Coachella Photo Exhibit Tells Story of Farmworkers In The Desert

A new photo exhibition is coming to the Coachella Library for a limited time. It is called  “Working Coachella: Images of the farmworker community in the Coachella Valley” 

A catalogue of imagery captured in the Coachella Valley over the past 30 years by former United Farm Workers organizer David Bacon and originated by the Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California.

These photos will be unveiled at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, May 18th 2024 at 10 a-m at the Coachella Library on Sixth Street. 

Guests will have an opportunity to meet the curator and photographer for the exhibition in person at the event.

This free exhibition runs through August 24th 2024 on the following schedule: Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10am –6pm, and Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11am –7pm. 

This display is presented by the City of Coachella and is made possible with support from the RAP Foundation, TODEC, Latino Network, City of Riverside, Q’Vinc and Irma Asberry, Ken and Mary Gutierrez, and Angel and Jesse Melgar. 

For more information visit the  City’s website at Coachella.org.

COACHELLA VALLEY, CA – 3APRIL17 – Carlos Chavez works as a palmero, in the date palm groves of Coachella Valley, and has worked over 20 years in the trees. After work he sits in the shade of the trailer where he live with his daughter Michelle, in a trailer park near Thermal. Michelle is in high school, trying to win a scholarship so she can go to college. Carlos took her to work with him one summer, but she didn’t like it, and says it motivated her to study harder.

Photo courtesy of City of Coachella CA May 17th 2024
Copyright David Bacon