By Anthony Michael Tran

Students recently gathered for an event where they were able to discover an important message hidden within the depths of photography.

On Feb. 24, in the USU ballroom, an event entitled “Product of Mexico” took place and was hosted by Director Freddi Avalos of CHABBS in Engaging Diverse Dialogues. Don Bartletti, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist from Los Angeles Times, took the audience on a journey as he showed his photos of exploits in Mexico. These photos also depicted the Castillo Family, a poor, hardworking Mexican family who struggled to survive as farm workers.

Bartletti explained that some of the produce that is sold in everyday grocery stores such as Wal-Mart, likely came directly from Mexican farms where underage children, like 12-year-old Alejandrina Castillo, harvested fresh produce in order to earn about $8 for a whole day’s work in the fields.

“The foods we eat have invisible consequences that most of us choose to overlook,” Dr. Freddi Avalos said.

The poverty and misery can be seen throughout Bartletti’s showcase of photos. However, these photos also provided the audience with a sense of inspiration as they saw these strong groups of people doing their best to make a living for the sake of their families. They couldn’t afford to spend too much of their hard-earned money on buying new shoes or clothes, because otherwise they wouldn’t be able to spend it on groceries, clean water and other necessities for their household.

Bartletti took many enlightening photos of Alejandrina Castillo, along with her family, as they all display their magnificent will to work in order to sustain their livelihood in the labor camp.

“Alejandrina said she was always hungry and tired while working in the fields picking peppers and tomatoes, yet she pushed on to fill 60-pound sacks that were almost as tall as she was,” said Bartletti.

Although the photos were beautifully taken with precision and care, the most important aspect of this art is the intention and message that Bartletti was trying to portray. He is attempting to spread the message that there is so much more we can do in order to contribute to the proper care of these farm workers who earn much less than what they truly deserve.

Bartletti spoke about how many of the farm workers tried to complain about their conditions to higher authorities but were only met with silence. The workers were more than happy to tell their story to Bartletti in order to finally have their voices heard.

Bartletti ended his presentation with a series of videos along with some of his other work from the Los Angeles Times website. He also held a Q&A for the audience who had a lot of interesting questions.

Bartletti hopes that CSUSM students will continue to spread the word about these issues and make the commitment to support Mexican farm workers.