The Hands That Feed Us
Jimmy Dorantes has been photographing along the U.S.-Mexico border from a very young age, as his mother gave him his first camera at the age of three. His childhood home was on First Street in Calexico, directly across from the border fence, giving him a front-row seat on an ongoing social issue.
"The Hands That Feed Us" is an homage to his roots, as Dorantes counted friends, neighbors and relatives among laborers working the fields. “It’s a very personal subject,” Dorantes, a retired contract photographer for TIME magazine, said. “What I’ll be showing are pictures of migrant life, migrant workers sweating out in the fields like my mom would talk about."
Dorantes is a visual storyteller who spent 25 years as a contract photojournalist for TIME magazine when it served as a major source for international news.
"The Hands That Feed Us" is a personal homage to his roots, as Dorantes counted friends, neighbors and relatives among laborers working the fields. His mother’s family harvested crops in the Imperial Valley and traveled north during the Dust Bowl to find work.
“It’s a very personal subject,” Dorantes said. “What I’ll be showing are pictures of migrant life, migrant workers sweating out in the fields like my mom would talk about. When I photograph the migrant workers, I’m kind of reliving the stories my mother shared with me.”
Dorantes’ work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the California Museum of Photography in Riverside, and the Museum of Photographic Arts (MoPA) in San Diego. His book, “The Observant Eye,” received an honorable mention in the documentary books category in the 2025 International Photography Awards.
The exhibit opens May 9, at 11 a.m., at the nonprofit Photographer's Eye Gallery in Escondido, and will feature an artists and reception at 5 p.m. on opening day.
