Federico Correa: Art and Memory

Federico Correa posted this image of his painting on his Facebook page. It stirred me deeply, thinking about how we first met on the internet and how much time had passed since my father had stumbled upon him in 1958 picking carrots in a field in California’s central valley.

Harvey photographed the scene and the photo went into the archives where it sat in analog darkness until recently, some 50+ years later when I put it up on the internet as part of the Harvey Richards Media Archive photo image collection. Federico saw it and contacted me. I published a blog post about that.
When I think about children picking fruit or veggies for California agribusiness, I think of long suffering hours in the heat of the valley. I don’t think of a moment like this, when the child is visited by a bird, leaving a memory, or a dream, to savor for years ahead. Life is like that and art is the means to communicate so much that words cannot. Thanks Federico.

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