🙏🏾 #dream #plan #pursue Posted @withrepost • @aarp "Dream doesn’t sound real," says Narsiso Martinez. "It’s more about having a strategy because a dream is just an idea. If you don’t act, the dream doesn’t happen. I always think about the hard work I do to get where I am, not only the physical struggle, but the economic and psychological struggle, too.” Narsiso, 45, immigrated to California from Oaxaca, Mexico, when he was 20. After working picking produce over nine summers to put himself through school, the artist now pays homage to that experience through his artwork. 1. For his “Ghost Portrait” series of farmworkers, Narsiso prints on transparency paper. You see through the workers to the flattened produce box underneath them. “They’re here but not here,” he says. “They’re protected but not protected.” The portraits illustrate how farm workers cover their faces and mouths to protect from the sun and from breathing pesticide dust. Narsiso spends hours printing each portrait; if the ink isn’t applied just right, the print will be imperfect. 2. Narsiso's sculpture of collaged produce boxes, “Friends in Freshness,” at @molaa.art. One of his influences has been 1930’s-era social realism. 3. Another sculpture of collaged produce boxes, “Friends in Freshness." 4. Narsiso depicts hands because they’re essential yet overlooked. 5. For his “Ghost Portrait” series of farmworkers, Narsiso prints on transparency paper. You see through the workers to the flattened produce box underneath them. “They’re here but not here,” he says. “They’re protected but not protected.” 6. Narsiso’s solo exhibit, “Rethinking Essential,” an ode to the hardworking farmworkers who pick America’s produce, opened Aug. 14, 2022, at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California. The exhibit features his paintings and mixed-media installations of farmworkers set against the agricultural landscapes and cheerful brand designs of grocery store produce boxes. 6. Portraits of Narsiso in his Long Beach studio. Narsiso says for him, the American Dream has been more of a plan. 📸 by: @greggsegal #AARP #GenX#Artist #Mexico #California #Immigration #Immigrant #FarmWork