Ester Hernandez

The image that I decided to focus on is a screenprint by Ester Hernandez titled Sun Mad. This image struck me the most because it’s really bringing awareness to the farmworker’s daily struggle and it also raises issues about consumerism. The image lists harmful pesticides at the bottom. This reference is directed at the harmful environment that the workers have to endure. I remember reading an article about the effects of working around such toxic poisons and the way they damage a workers body. For instance, many women who were pregnant and were still working in the fields either lost their child or were born with serious health conditions.

In regards to commercialization, it definitely raises questions about how living under capitalism we seem to ignore where exactly the things we buy come from. Someone had to pick the fruits/vegetables, but because all we do is consume and not give any consideration to where something came from, we overlook the issues at hand. The skeleton in the image, in my opinion, represents the people who are working around the pesticides and putting their lives in danger. Furthermore, since consumers are constantly indulging in several different commodities, we ignore important issues such as the use of pesticides. Through Sun Mad, Ester Hernandez was able to shed light on two issues that till this day continue to be ignored.