By These Hands

"David Parker's lens captures what Peter Rachleff calls "a performance, a ritual, an exercise centuries old" - men and women at work on factory floors. These photographs, taken in twenty plants in all parts of Minnesota, explore the common bonds of industrial labor. Whether it's the Ford plant in St. Paul, the Potlatch paper mill in Cloquet, or the Toro engine manufacturer in Windom, Parker seeks to honor the "collective genius of the American worker."". "Excerpts from interviews with the workers reveal their opinions on such diverse topics as health care and childcare, union activity,…