The Things We Carry–Las Cosas Que Llevamos

A Workers’ School Art Installation – A collaborative project between the Multicultural advocacy team at tri county health network, raíces sin fronteras and other community organizers across the state.
Creativity is more than self-expression—it is a political act, a way to cultivate our collective critical consciousness and make visible the truths too often silenced. Through this project, Workers’ School members will gather and amplify the voices of Latino workers, transforming their lived experiences into a powerful, culturally grounded, and immersive art installation.
“Look what we built together.” This will be an immersive, community-built installation where Latino workers speak in their own voices, on their own terms—stories of survival, resistance, dignity, and hope. Everyday objects, voices, and testimonies become altars, portraits, and collective memory walls, transforming the space into something part gallery, part breakroom, part sacred archive. Through visual, sound, and interactive mediums, the tools, words, and truths of labor tell the story of survival and resilience. By honoring these narratives, we aim to spark community empowerment, collective healing, and truth-telling that reverberates far beyond the walls of the installation.
Visitors move through an installation that feels like a living archive of labor—opening boxes, entering booths, reading walls, looking at portraits (without showing faces or identifying details, unless the person featured feels comfortable doing so), lifting objects. The voices of workers, layered with smells, textures, and visuals, create a multi-sensory storytelling environment. It is part gallery, part testimony, part ritual space—where each component reflects a dimension of labor: memory, confession, testimony, weight, pride, and migration.

“This is an act of collective healing and truth-telling, aiming to spark community empowerment and amplify voices that are too often silenced.”
– Tabassum Siddiqui, Lead Curator
Photo Gallery of the Worker’s School Art Exhibit
Learn more about Claudia’s story here

The Things She Carries
“Solidarity through the telling of our stories.” Claudia
Learn more about Ruth’s story here

The Things She Carries
” A Latino cannot get sick.” – Ruth
Learn more about Erika’s story here

The Things She Carries
“Live, fall, learn, grow, love.” -Erika
Learn more about Lorena’s story here

The Things She Carries
“Loosing my own leaves.” – Lorena
Learn more about Elisa’s story here

The Things She Carries
“The story of millions of people who have migrated to this country with hopes and dreams.” -Elisa
Learn more about Minerva’s story here

The Things She Carries
“I hope one day I can have a quiet life.” – Minerva
Learn more about Gaby’s story here

The Things She Carries
” I Came to the Unknown.” – Gaby
Learn more about Mateo’s story here





