Professors Glenda Drew, design, and Jesse Drew, cinema and digital media, are members of Class Conscious Photographers, who recently installed “A WORKING LENS (A.W.L.)” in front of the John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis. The installation examines the lives of “essential” workers during the pandemic.

The exhibition on the corner of First and E Streets in Davis is a text and photo installation that looks at the contributions made by workers during the coronavirus crisis, who we all depend on to maintain our common social infrastructure during this pandemic.  In their voices, presented in text panels and the signs held in protests, people in the photographs speak to the reality of their lives, and the contradiction between calling workers “essential” while they can’t pay rent, afford healthcare or confront injustice.  We note that these are conditions that existed before the pandemic and will likely continue afterwards as well. The participating photographers in the A.W.L. exhibit put these images and voices–of truck drivers, warehouse workers, market vendors, recycle workers, baristas, food servers, subway cleaners, retail workers, and other “essential” workers–into this public space to challenge viewers to take some action beyond appreciating the efforts and risks these workers are making. 

The installation includes the work of photographers David Bacon, Najib Joe Hakim, and Antonio Nava.

Class Conscious Photographers is a collective of photographers who document the lives of workers as participants in the broad movement for social, racial, and economic justice.

All photos from “A WORKING LENS,” courtesy of Class Conscious Photographers.