All project photography, videography, and reporting by Sam Comen — see more at samcomen.com

Artist Statement

In mid-December, when LA was on the verge of becoming the U.S. epicenter of the pandemic, I spoke with some truckers at the Port of Los Angeles, the largest of the Pacific Rim and a stark illustration of just how much America relies on a small number of hard-working people. “We are partially responsible for moving the economy,” Alvaro Altamirano told me over the constant hum of 18-wheelers at this access point to America’’s supply chain, which is only kept open by people like him. “We are risking our health, our lives even,” he said, but added that the essential nature of this work was “a great motivation.” Altamirano is one of the five dozen essential workers this project celebrates, people who have

remained on the job since the pandemic began, many of whom will face grave uncertainties after it ends. Many of them are Black, Latinx, and other people of color, whose roles during this crisis exposed stark issues of social injustice, as many of them perform high-risk work with insufficient public support. Through intimate storytelling that focuses on the people behind the face masks, this document of resilience at a historic moment aims to forge a specific human connection to the fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters who’ve stepped up in this crisis, so that we may keep them in foremost in our minds as we set an agenda for the future.

About Sam

“Comen is best known for his environmental portrait essays that feature evocative California locales. As a documentary photographer, he has long focused on themes of American identity, community-building, immigration, democracy, and social justice.” —Taína Caragol, National Portrait Gallery, Curator of Painting and Sculpture and Latino Art and History.

Sam specializes in shooting environmental portraits of everyday heroes as well as leaders, actors, musicians, and artists for national publications.

Currently on tour across the United States is Comen’s series The Newest Americans: portraits of U.S. citizens immediately before and after taking the oath, produced in partnership with The California Museum in Sacramento. His work is also traveling the US with the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s “American Portraiture Today” exhibition.

He’s twice exhibited with the National Portrait Gallery, and his work is held in the permanent collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and The Library of Congress.