WASHINGTON — If a picture is worth a thousand words, then photographer Ricardo Alvarado’s works capturing commonplace events — Pinoys at work, at play and in death — in the ’40s and ’50s are a telenovela of the struggle of ethnic minorities. The importance of Alvarado’s works is underlined by the Smithsonian Institution’s decision to feature for the first time ever a Philippine-American artist. Fifty black-and-white Alvarado photographs are on display at the National Museum of American Institute in Washington from Nov. 21 to Mar. 31.
"Filipino-Americans are one of this country’s largest and most rapidly growing Asian-American ethnic groups. Yet their history in this country is not well known," said a Smithsonian brochure introducing Alvarado’s works.
After the Washington showing, the photographs will be exhibited at 15 other sites throughout the nation over a three-year period.
Alvarado’s love for the camera was a hobby rather than a profession, and his negatives and photographs — all 3,000 of them — lay undiscovered until his daughter Janet found them shortly after his death in 1976 at the age of 62.
When word got around about Alvarado’s photographs, they were exhibited for the first time in San Francisco in 1998. As interest grew, the exhibit went from place to place in California, drawing raves.
Janet then sent a project proposal to the Smithsonian to give the photos a wider audience.
It was a labor of love for Janet and, not surprisingly, the exhibit is entitled "Through My Father’s Eyes."
Alvarado immigrated to San Francisco in 1928 when he was 14 years old. He worked as a houseboy and janitor to earn a living and during the war served with the US army’s first Filipino regiment.
After the war he pursued his hobby in earnest, supporting his passion by working as a cook for an army hospital in San Francisco.
After he was married, he gave up his hobby at his wife’s request for him to concentrate on providing for his family.