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Matinee: 'Californians Powering America'
25 October 2025
Saturday matinees long ago let us escape from the ordinary world to the island of the Swiss Family Robinson or the mutinous decks of the Bounty. Why not, we thought, escape the usual fare here with Saturday matinees of our favorite photography films?
So we're pleased to present the 627th in our series of Saturday matinees today: Californians Powering America.
This 1:52 video introduces the exhibit Californians Powering America, which features six photo essays on the immigrant labor force driving California's industries from agriculture and construction to caregiving and fire recovery.
LA County Library describes the show:
At a time when immigrant communities are increasingly marginalized, this exhibit tells their stories with empathy, intimacy and urgency. The Californians Powering America invites you to see the humanity behind its workforce. These are the faces and stories of the people who make the California Dream possible. From the Central Valley's farmlands to Los Angeles kitchens and clinics, immigrants are fueling agriculture, construction, food service, healthcare and more. Through the work of award-winning photographers and storytellers, Californians Powering America puts a human face on this invisible workforce, capturing both their daily struggles and deep resilience.
Among the artists featured are:
- Matt Black who has chronicles the lives of the Central Valley's overlooked immigrant agricultural labor.
- Yale Martinez who documents the lives and work of his relatives in El Cajon, offering a personal look at the experiences of a multigenerational migrant family.
- Sabiha Çimen whose portraits of Korean nurses and Middle Eastern Muslim immigrants show "the quiet labor that goes into caregiving and feeding the community."
Magnum editorial director Giulietta Palumbo makes an appearance to point out that it is important to host this exhibit in the very community it is about.
Californians Powering America is on view at San Fernando Library and La Cañada Flintridge Library through Dec. 31.