The Hmong of Central California:
A Culture in Transition
A Photographic Documentary in Progress
The project uses digital photography to document the saga of two thousand new Hmong refugees as they arrive in Fresno from refugee camps in Thailand. Working with FIRM, an organization that provides a wide range of services to refugee communities, and the Fresno City and County Historical Society, Joel is photographing the Hmong immigrants as they attempt to keep their traditional culture alive and adapt to life in a strange, new world eight thousand miles from their birthplace.
Funded by the California Council for the Humanities and the James Irvine foundation, the photographic work began in December 2004 and continues in Laos and California. It will culminate with a large traveling exhibition opening by 2011. The entire body of digital photography, over 12,000 images, will be archived by the Fresno City and County Historical Society and will be accessible online.