Working America

“Walking and driving every day in my native Los Angeles, I look around and see an economically thriving microcosm of a multiracial, immigrant America. The Armenian American shoemaker, the Korean American tailor, the Mexican American machine operator working the late shift in the last zipper factory left in the country. As the great-grandson of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, I can’t help but think of 2019 Los Angeles as a contemporary analog to my forebears’ late-nineteenth-century experience in Chicago or Boston.

It’s with my great-grandparents in mind that I’ve come to question how, in light of recent anti-immigrant rhetoric stoking wide debate across the U.S., their story might still be relevant today. Inspired by their work in the garment industry, I decided to consider immigrant Americans and first-generation Americans through the lens of the “small trades,” re-engaging with the historical portrait approach that masters of photography Eugéne Atget, August Sander, and Irving Penn used to study national identity, work, and class in their own times.”

-Sam Comen

In the photography exhibition Working America, artist Sam Comen presents American immigrants and first-generation Americans at work in the small, skilled trades as icons of the American experience. The subjects share stories of economic independence and struggle, belonging and exclusion, faith and fear, and service to both community and family.

A variety of themes are explored in the portraits and accompanying interviews, including the dignity of work, inequity among immigrant nationalities, the political relevance of labor migrants, the intergenerational legacies of inherited skills, and the learning of new skills to adapt to the new land of opportunity; and the relationship between a nation’s identity and the identities of the individuals who comprise that nation.

This body of work has particular relevance today in a political landscape where anti-immigrant and pro-worker sentiments figure prominently. Comen has revisited some of his portrait subjects more recently, to update their stories in the extraordinary context of the global pandemic and subsequently devastating economic hardship, adding new dimensions and timeliness to the project.

Working America is a meditation on American belonging and American becoming, it poetically acknowledges the lives and contributions of working men and women make as a part of our country and our collective experience.

About the artist

As a native Californian, Sam Comen has used his home state as a muse throughout his career and often looks to the places that define us for inspiration. He has long focused on themes of American identity, community-building, immigration, democracy, and social justice in his photographic work.

His portrait Jesus Sera, Dishwasher (2019) from the Working America series was awarded Second Prize in the prestigious triennial The Outwin: American Portraiture Today at the National Portrait Gallery in 2019, and his work was on view in there in the 2017–18 exhibition, The Sweat of Their Face: Portraying American Workers.

His photographs are collected by the Library of Congress, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and private collectors, and he is regularly commissioned by brands and publications internationally.

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Tour Schedule

Working America will tour April 2022 through March 2027. The dates below reflect seven-week exhibition periods. Dates are subject to change; please contact MoreArt@maaa.org or (800) 473-3872 x208/209 for current availability.

  • September 1–October 20, 2022 Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center
    Enid, OK
    booked
  • January 28–May 25, 2023 Chandler Museum
    Chandler, AZ
    booked
  • September 1–October 20, 2023 Truman State University
    Kirksville, MO
    booked
  • November 10, 2023–January 7, 2024 Rogers Historical Society
    Rogers, AR
    booked
  • January 28–March 16, 2024 Historical & Cultural Center of Clay County
    Moorehead, MN
    booked
  • April 6–May 25, 2024 Chippewa Valley Museum
    Eau Claire, WI
    booked
  • June 16–August 11, 2024 Kansas City Kansas Public Library
    Kansas City, KS
    booked
  • September 1–October 20, 2024 Refurbishment
    Kansas City, MO
    booked
  • November 10, 2024–January 7, 2025 Raupp Museum
    Buffalo Grove, IL
    booked
  • January 28–May 25, 2025 Irving Archives and Museum
    Irving, TX
    booked
  • June 16–August 11, 2025
    available
  • September 1–October 20, 2025 Chelsea District Library
    Chelsea, MI
    booked
  • November 10, 2025–March 16, 2026 Converse Library at Douglas
    Douglas, WY
    pending
  • April 6–May 25, 2026
    available
  • June 16–August 11, 2026
    available
  • September 1–October 20, 2026
    available
  • November 10, 2026–January 7, 2027 Temecula Community Services District
    Temecula, CA
    pending
  • January 28–March 16, 2027
    available
  • April 6–May 25, 2027
    available
  • June 16–August 11, 2027
    available

Exhibition Details

40 photographic works and a video kiosk

  • Content

    Fee Includes
    Press Kit
    Registrar’s Packet
    Programming Guide
    Gallery Guide
    Text Panels
    Narrative Labels
    Full Insurance
    Installation Instructions
    Custom-Designed and Built Crates

  • Curated By

  • Organized By

    ExhibitsUSA, Mid-America Arts Alliance

  • Out-of-Region Rental Fee

    $6,000

  • In-Region Rental Fee

    $3,600

  • Duration

    seven-week display

  • Shipping

    Van Line

  • Running Feet

    200

  • Square Feet

    -

  • Security

    Moderate B

  • Number of Crates/Total Weight

    three crates estimated/TBD

  • Insurance

    The exhibition is fully insured by ExhibitsUSA at no additional expense to you, both while installed and during transit.

Downloads & Resources

Click HERE to view and download the Factsheet for Working America.