Jocelyn Silva
In “The Hands of Hard-working Men,” Jocelyn Silva follows three hardworking people in her life who motivate her to work hard towards her dreams for her future. Here, Silva documents her boyfriend, Luis Maldonado, her father, Andres Silva, and her father-in-law, Luis Alberto, following them as they engage in their hard work in the automotive business. She pays specific attention to their hands engaging in their work, observing the environment of their workshops and the textures of their hard-working hands. Silva grew up watching her father come home with cuts on his hands that, over time, turned into scars; his soft hands turned into rough hands. As she got older, she began to notice this same pattern in other men in her life who also worked in this industry. She hopes her viewers will see, through her personal connection to this work, the dignity of the hard work of not only the hands appearing in this project but also the hard-working hands of others in viewers’ communities.