BY LUPITA MURILLO TINNEN
Immigrant Laborers Series
The images from this series titled, Immigrant Laborers, help express a more complex narrative about hard-working immigrant laborers primarily living in the North Texas area. I have a unique perspective as an insider who comes from a working-class family of Mexican immigrants. The occupations I chose to represent include those most commonly discussed in regards to low-skilled immigrant labor. These occupations encompass areas associated with factory work, construction, landscaping, agriculture and farming, domestic services, and custodial or building maintenance. I have created a documentary record to pay homage to the laborers who usually are relegated to the status of “non-belonging other” and not as an equal. Instead of marginalizing the laborer by depicting them in their work environment, or in a uniform, they are dressed in their chosen attire and collaborate in the decisions regarding their portrayal. My aim is to expose the laborers as more than a simple statistic; instead, there is a face for the viewer to meet and encounter as an equal.
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Lupita Murillo Tinnen was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. Since 2005, she has been a Professor of Photography at Collin College and in 2006 became the faculty advisor for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) council #4780. Tinnen has been awarded the LULAC National Young Adult Advisor of the Year four times. She is a PhD candidate in Aesthetic Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas and holds degrees in Photography from the University of North Texas (MFA ’01) and from Texas A&M Commerce (BA ’98). Tinnen serves on the National Board of Directors and is the treasurer for the Society for Photographic Education where she has been a member since 2002. In addition, she is a board member and treasurer of the Texas Photographic Society. As a practicing artist, her work deals primarily with cultural and personal issues stemming from her background as a first-generation Mexican American. Her work has been exhibited in over 100 shows (solo, two-person, juried, and invitational group exhibitions) throughout the United States. In 2008, she was awarded an artist-residency through the Center for Photography and Woodstock.