Latin American Immigrant Roofers Post-Ida
José Torres-Tama
December 10, 2022 – January 14, 2023
Opening: Saturday, Dec 10, 4-8 pm

In the wake of Hurricane-Ida, it was Latin American immigrant workers who were everywhere on rooftops across New Orleans-repairing the many damaged roofs. I did not have to go far to document my people doing the arduous work afters another hurricane in the Crescent City. On my block alone in the Saint Roch neighborhood, there were reconstruction crews repairing the blown roofs of my neighbor’s houses.

There were crews of Guatemalan, Honduran, and Mexican roofers on my Saint Roch Avenue street. I took my camera around my neighborhood and the nearby Treme to capture the images of many of our Latin American immigrant workers, often repairing damaged roofs at high altitudes without any safety scaffolding provided to them by the contractors. Again, like post-Katrina, our people were engaging in the reconstruction efforts, and doing so at the risk of their lives.

This new series was created in the immediate September 2021 days after the electricity came back on, and immigrant workers covered the many roofs across the city like a locust of reconstruction angels.

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On the opening night of Saturday, December 10, I will offer an “Artist’s Talk” about this new series at 7pm at Saint Roch ArteFuturo Studio to discuss this new series of roofers post-Ida. For the opening from 4-8pm, I will have wine available for those PhotoNOLA visitors who attend the opening.