Over the next four months, Lachman followed and photographed members of AFSCME Local 3399 (Maryland Council 67), rendering their images into a series of paintings and charcoal sketches that have been on display at the Takoma Park Recreation Center since this summer.
In one acrylic, titled “Misty February Morning” – the image that inspired Lachman – four sanitation workers wearing neon yellow safety jackets appear to silently empty cans into a compactor at sunrise. In another painting, “After a Storm,” workers chainsaw fallen trees and clear a street of debris. In the magical “Words Can Come Alive,” a library shelver seems to caress a flower that emerges – along with several green hummingbirds – from the pages of a book.
Several of the members of AFSCME Local 3399 sat for Lachman, who captured their faces in charcoal sketches that are by turns wry, determined and vulnerable.
Taken together, Lachman offers viewers quiet but moving glimpses of everyday life, and the everyday heroes who keep our communities vibrant.
