With 25 million visitors in 2023, Anaheim is an iconic tourist destination in the United States. The Disneyland theme park has a lot to do with it, the Anaheim Convention Center does the rest. The urban landscape of this Californian city is largely dominated by luxury hotels. Less well known are the popular neighborhoods, with a large Latino majority, which nevertheless bring together more than half of the inhabitants.
Photographer William Camargo, 35 years old, was born. and I grew up in these neighborhoods, largely invisible, sometimes even hidden behind high brick walls. As a student, he participated in protests denouncing police brutality, gang activity, domination of the city by business interests, and the lack of political representation of Hispanic residents in local government. And this, to the great despair of his parents, who at that time were undocumented.
His photographic work “Origins and Displacements”, begun during the Covid health crisis and continued to this day, is interested in these contrasts. Between research and documentation of daily life, this series is based on the city’s archives and the local press to explore a more or less recent history, which resonates with current reality. The photographer begins in the 1920s, when the Ku Klux Klan, then at the height of its influence and popularity, decided to make Anaheim a model “Klan town.” It digressed until 1994, when California passed a law limiting undocumented immigrants’ access to state public services, particularly public education and health care. It also looks at the city’s recent past, marked by issues related to gentrification, systemic racism, and police brutality.
Above all, it restores visibility to its community, largely absent from the archives and still marginalized despite its increasingly significant weight in the electorate. This year, the Hispanic vote represents 15% of the voters. “ This county, nicknamed Nixon County and then Reagan County, has always been Republican and eventually became more Democratic with the influx of immigrants and the new generation. »explains William Camargo.
Due to the proximity to the border with Mexico, the immigration issue is at the center of local concerns. “ There are many blended families here, many of which are undocumented. Donald Trump wants to return undocumented immigrants, the same ones who build luxury hotels and buildings in Anaheim that stimulate the local economy »duck.
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