Project on farm workers reopens at LAVA Center
GREENFIELD — The LAVA Center’s project documenting migrant farm workers in western Massachusetts reopens on Friday, May 3, with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m., a display of photographs by Alfonso Herrera-Neal and Lindy Whiton, and words excerpted from field interviews.
In addition, members of the project team will introduce a new website that includes images and words from the display, transcripts of the interviews, and lesson and unit plan resources for educators.
Over the summer and fall of 2023, Herrera-Neal and Whiton, assisted by team members Clara Witty and Elias Neijens, documented through interviews and photography the stories of these individuals who play a vital role in our farm-to-table food chain. The stories highlight the skills involved in agricultural work and the skills that many migrant workers bring with them, but also the difficulties of being separated from family members who stay in their home countries. Herrera-Neal’s black-and-white photos and Whiton’s color photos capture the landscapes and details of their lives in the fields and orchards of western Massachusetts.
The project will be on display through July in The LAVA Center’s Humanities Gallery.
Swetland to display art through June at LAVA Center
GREENFIELD — The LAVA Center at 324 Main St. will host an art show by local artist Tom Swetland throughout May and June.
The exhibit, Swetland’s third annual, will feature collage art, assemblage, mixed media, papier mache and junk sculpture around the themes of surrealism, psychedelia, dreamscapes and conspiracy.
There will be a reception on Saturday, May 4, from 3 to 6 p.m.
from the Greenfield Recorder Notebook
