Photography

Starting in the 1970s, Waterfront Writers and Artists members Frank Silva and Brian Nelson—both ship’s clerks on the Bay Area waterfront—photographed the docks during a period of rapid change. Their images document the shift from break-bulk cargo to containerization and the evolving rhythms of longshore labor, capturing both the machinery reshaping the ports and the camaraderie among workers. Many of these photographs were published in the group's early chapbooks or shown at group performances in the multimedia slideshow Longshoremen at Work.

To view selected images, click through below.

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