From Clouds to Dust

     Matt Black's collection in the Wiegand Gallery was made up of about 20 images of migrant labor in California and Mexico. Black describes it as "the place of the cloud people" for they are pushed north to work in California. He has been working on his collection for the past 20 years since he got out of college. The gallery demonstrates all the indigenous regions near the Central Valley. The Valley represents 40 billion and half of US food production. Black chose to print his photos in grainy black and white because he tried to capture a vision of the past. Generation after generation repeating it's schemes in the society. Matt Black is reporting through his photos to make people question if there should be change.
     I enjoyed visiting the Wiegand Gallery because the pictures were truly eye-opening. Most all of his photos had the scene suffering and hard work. One picture that stood out to me was the one of the man blowing on a tuba as the town was celebrating a day of the saints. However, I noticed that none of them looked happy to be there eve though it was a celebration. Perhaps it was a celebration of mourning like the people of Párá did for Dorothy Stang? Another photo that stood out to me was the one of 3 migrant workers plowing a field with a black lab in the middle of the picture. The dog has it's tongue sticking way out which tells us a lot about the weather. There is no shade and the migrant workers are wearing big hats to try to protect them from the heat. My favorite photo is with the two men picking plums. The camera angle gives the picture a cool perspective. It makes us wonder who the man is on the ladder.