Matt Black: The Black Okies

Artist’s Statement:

These photographs document a disappearing group of black sharecroppers who migrated to California’s Central Valley over a half century ago. Unlike their white counterparts — the “Okies” of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath and the photographs of Dorothea Lange — the story of these migrants went largely untold.

Artist’s Bio:

Exeter, CA

Photographer Matt Black grew up in a small town in California’s Central Valley, a vast agricultural area in the heart of the state. Over the past decade, his work has chronicled the decline of traditional farming communities in rural California and in southern Mexico. He is represented by Anastasia Photo.