Pop-Up Exhibit Captures Domestic Workers' Lives In Photos

A one-night pop-up art exhibit at the START Los Angeles gallery in West Adams Thursday evening aims to capture the work and lives of local domestic workers, photographed in portraits and on the job.

A portrait of domestic worker Mirna Arana, with cleaning tools.

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Photo by Joe Ramos

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The images, shot by photographers Joe Ramos and Riccardo Stanley Mejia, depict workers in Southern and Northern California in their work environment. One woman sits for a portrait with her cleaning tools. Another is photographed on the job, caring for an elderly client.

Titled “Rights & Realities: Domestic Workers’ Fight for Health & Safety,” the exhibit is part of a larger campaign for domestic worker rights and safety in California.

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Norma Miranda, a long-time nanny who lives in Tarzana, is pictured at a bus stop. She takes the bus from home to her job in Redondo Beach three times a week — a trip that takes at least two hours. She pays the bus fare.

Miranda, who came to the U.S. long ago from Peru, explained why she wanted to participate.

Speaking in Spanish, she said that sometimes “people don’t respect us, saying ‘she’s just a domestic worker’ or ‘she’s just a nanny’. We want for people to hear our voices, that we are listened to and respected.”

Many of those photographed are domestic worker leaders, and the exhibit will include written testimony from some of them. The exhibit is organized by the California Domestic Workers Coalition, one of several groups that have been pushing state legislators for a domestic worker safety law.

Household domestic workers are excluded from protection under California’s Occupational Safety and Health Act. For several years now, these workers and their advocates have argued that workplace safety regulations for domestic employees are necessary because their work can involve dangers like harsh cleaning chemicals and heavy lifting.

Maria Elena Ceja at work as a caregiver.

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Photo by Joe Ramos

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There have been two recent legislative attempts to include domestic work in Cal/OSHA safety regulations, both vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. In his veto message last fall for the most recent bill, Newsom said homes can’t be regulated like traditional businesses. He also expressed concern about potential fines for non-compliance being a burden to low-income families that employ domestic workers.

Last year, California’s Department of Industrial Relations did issue some voluntary health and safety guidelines for domestic work, as well as day labor, which domestic employers can refer to.

Vanessa Barba, a campaign manager with the California Domestic Workers Coalition, said worker advocates have been in contact with the governor’s office “to negotiate and see if there is some sort of agreement that we can come to.” She said there could be another legislative campaign next year.

Photographer Joe Ramos, who grew up among farmworkers in the Salinas Valley, photographed the Northern California workers. He said the women he photographed conveyed a sense of empowerment.

“Seeing these women that know their rights and they're not afraid to talk about them… was pretty impressive for me,” Ramos said.

The pop-up at the START Los Angeles gallery runs 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday. The photos will be exhibited at a similar event in Oakland on May 9.