MATT BURKHARTT
A Photo a Week
A farm worker identified as Antonio, 44, from Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica, photographed in Wolcott, NY, near the apple orchard where he works. I made this portrait for a nonprofit magazine based in Chicago, In These Times in the spring for a story about the very tenuous nature of farm work at apple orchards in Upstate NY.
On May 2, a bus full of farmworkers heading to a farm called Lynn-Ette & Sons was stopped by federal agents in Albion. 14 of the 17 workers on board were arrested. It is believed that their efforts to unionize contributed to their detention.
Fearing retaliation from his employer in Wolcott, the worker I photographed asked to be identified as Antonio and my portraits of him had to obscure his identity.
On May 2, a bus full of farmworkers heading to a farm called Lynn-Ette & Sons was stopped by federal agents in Albion. 14 of the 17 workers on board were arrested. It is believed that their efforts to unionize contributed to their detention.
Fearing retaliation from his employer in Wolcott, the worker I photographed asked to be identified as Antonio and my portraits of him had to obscure his identity.