SUGAR CANE HEROES portrait series
THIS IS NOT A MOVIE
This is not a character in the latest blockbuster, he is not “characterized” by the costume design department to look devastated and he does not have make up to appear with scars nor coming right out of the ashes of the previous controlled fire of mixed gasoline and diesel the night before.
"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?
Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."- One of the last notes left behind by Gandhi in 1948, expressing his deepest social thought.
Source: Mahatma Gandhi - The Last Phase, Vol. II (1958), p.65
Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s moral guide known as Gandhi’s Talisman, this photography series ventures directly into the sugar cane fields of Jalisco, Mexico, to capture the faces of those who are most vulnerable and struggling—the migrant Indigenous field workers of Mexico. The goal of these images is to give a human face to the moral question Gandhi challenges us to ask: Will the step I am about to take help the poorest and most vulnerable? Will it restore them to control over their own lives and destinies?
Calleja’s series, titled Sugar Cane Heroes, encourages reflection on the concept of freedom for the millions who suffer from hunger and spiritual deprivation. It invites viewers to consider how, when our own self-interest becomes too dominant, we must pause and evaluate the effects of our choices on the weakest members of society, in this case, the migrant indigenous field workers of México that make less than USD$ 13 a day working 12 hours in the blazing sun.
Something special about this series:
In this series only the first picture shot of each fieldworker is shown because it´s in the first picture that they showed a more organic unconcealed look, on the second shot they changed and started to smile to show familiar expressions as if they only needed one photograph to feel comfortable with the photographic process they may have never ever experienced before.
