The skeletal figure of a woman stands guard over the kitchen at the entrance to a homeless camp beside the railroad tracks next to the huge Blue Diamond almond processing plant, near the American River in Sacramento. Francisco Bernal is the artist who created her. Residents of this small community call it Rancho Encasalotengo (a sarcastic comment meaning, "I have it at home), and the skeleton is a figure in Mexican culture. Hundreds of people live in tents, under makeshift tarps, or simply sleep on the ground in this community, which has mushroomed in the last few months as the economic crisis puts people out of homes and jobs, onto the streets.

photographs and stories by David Bacon © 1990-1999

website by DigIt Designs © 1999