At SFMOMA, Alejandro Cartagena's photographs strike deep community chords - 48 hills

"In the back of a navy blue pickup truck, an older man lays flat with arms and legs spread like a starfish. His face is turned up to the sky-he's fast asleep. It's one of the first photographs visitors encounter in Alejandro Cartagena's exhibition "Ground Rules" at SFMOMA (through April 19). The image is part of Cartagena's "Carpoolers" series, which was photographed from 2011 to 2012 and figures prominently in the SFMOMA show."

"In it, Cartagena captured everyday people traveling in the back of pickup trucks in Monterrey, Mexico, the country's second-largest metropolitan area after Mexico City. The photos were shot from a bird's eye view, looking down from a freeway overpass. In the photos, day laborers, families, and kids in the back of a truck bed share food, sleeping and relaxing on either end of a long day of work. Over a decade later, the images of "Carpoolers" are still in heavy circulation on social media."

"Cartagena explained how being in the same place at the same time for a whole year allowed him to follow the same people as the seasons changed. "To have the representation of everyday life, of workers surviving," he said. "That was something that I wanted to represent and convey, in that moment of so much pain that my country was going through." During the period in which "Carpoolers" was shot, Monterrey experienced extreme violence due to armed conflict between the Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel."

Photographs show people traveling and resting in the beds of pickup trucks in Monterrey, Mexico, captured from a bird's-eye view on a freeway overpass. Subjects include day laborers, families, and children sharing food, sleeping, and relaxing after long workdays. The series was photographed from 2011 to 2012 and was taken over the course of a year to follow the same individuals as seasons changed. Images emphasize everyday life and workers surviving amid extreme violence from armed conflict between the Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel. The photographer was born in the Dominican Republic in 1977 and moved to Monterrey in 1990.

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