"siesta" is a photo series contemplating the exhaustion faced by immigrants, migrants, and precarious laborers, whose work fuels global production. The essay captures a distinct moment in a familiar disease: New York City, still hyperactive amidst ICE deportations, its service industries teetering on the backs of immigrant and other unprotected bodies.

A figure hangs from and pushes up against architectural structures on a Manhattan rooftop, oscillating between feelings of strain and languidness: between the realities of harsh working conditions and an afternoon’s siesta.

Model + Direction: Joëlle Antonia Santiago

Photographer: Soraya Kohsar