Construction Workers and High Art Fuse

Photo: Amy Tierney

Art allows us to peer into the lives of people we may ordinarily not cross paths with and see the world through their eyes. LAANE’s Construction Careers project did exactly that last night at its photography exhibit and mixer at the Solidarity Ink gallery space in Lincoln Heights. Sixty InterAct members and community leaders mingled with construction workers in a melting pot of wine, cheese and art-gazing.

The goal: to holistically present the lives of ordinary people in the hard-construction industry. We wanted to paint a broad picture of workers from diverse backgrounds, showing them in their homes, neighborhoods and worksites. We strove to portray workers with a sense of grace, documenting intimate moments with their families and the pride that they take every day, in the words of several workers, in “building something that will last.”

The multifaceted realities of Tarita, Luis, Stefanie, and Jabari – four workers from different ethnicities, neighborhoods, trades, generations and genders – are rich with personal stories about their joys and challenges of community, family and work.

You can visit the gallery here.