In a quiet neighborhood on the edge of Buenos Aires sits La Nueva Esperanza ("The New Hope"), Argentina's oldest balloon factory. For 5 years the factory has run exclusively under worker control, taking part in a new movement of recuperated factories in Argentina. After the economic crisis of 2001, factories and companies shut down all over Argentina. Within a few years, many of these workers started going back to work, only this time there was no boss...
There are some 400 cooperatives in Argentina at the moment, each with individual yet similar stories. As the excitement of the initial force of the movement settles, and the businesses struggle to keep up, they are greatly affected by the daily political and economic changes. Within the walls of La Nueva Esperanza, one can find the Argentinean predicament; all of the promise and potential, but a legacy of poor management and faulty principals have left a long road to recovery.
Documentary photographer Anna Barry-Jester was born in Michigan, but has lived in Brooklyn, NY for nearly 10 years. She focuses her work on Public Health issues, mostly in Latin America. Photographing social issues related to health and the environment, she has worked extensively in Nicaragua, Argentina and the United States. Anna is currently pursuing a Masters in Public Health at Columbia University and photographing the social effects of work related deaths amongst sugar cane workers in Nicaragua.
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Photos by Anna Barry-Jester.
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