Human Cargo: Alejandro Cartagena's Car Poolers

In the Mexican city of Monterrey, where the over development of newly built suburbs  affect peoples daily lives and customs, there is a large bridge spanning Highway 85. On that bridge Alejandro Cartagena pointed his camera down at the morning traffic. He was seeking and peeking into the backs of open trucks, where construction workers often pile together on their way to earn a living. Like commuters everywhere, they sleep, eat, read and talk on their way to work. Often they look up, and maybe they notice someone taking their picture.

"When I started to take the pictures from that point of view that just made a whole lot of things open up. There's issues of intimacy or privacy being expressed in a public space and especially there's a sense of the invisibility of the reality of so many people in Mexico." - Alejandro Cartagena.

The shape of the tall, narrow pictures mimics a long stretch of highway, and conjures up the journey's forward motion. Lined up in rows, each pictures a different vehicle, a different load of human cargo, and truck after truck; they suggest the relentless drive to stay alive.

You can view the complete series HERE, courtesy of the Kopeikin Gallery of Los Angeles, CA.

Source: Kopeikin Gallery