Portrait of Santa Rosa - The Photoville FENCE

7th Edition

Portrait of Santa Rosa is a photo series collected over five years that shows the subtle nuance between the vibrance of small town life and the lethargy in the home of 2,800 people. Rural American towns fight to stay alive everyday. Santa Rosa is one of those where the community fights to resurrect the economy as the youth flea to discover the bigger cities in hopes for something more.

Pressed against I-40, one of America’s largest freeways, it welcomes travelers from the west and east coasts as they cut through the New Mexican community in route to their destinations. The constant flow of travelers keeps a string of motels and truck stops in business while they stop for rest or gas to continue on the highway.

One by one, the businesses are disappearing. The necessary community services are leaving – there is no longer a day care for families to leave their children at while they go to work. The private prison sustains the majority of the workforce, and a string of motels hires international students to staff the housekeeping areas in the peak summer times because they can’t find laborers willing to work.

Through the changing economy and shifting labor markets, the people who call Santa Rosa home maintain hope for a self-sustaining town hinged upon the simplicity of small town life and a need to survive.

Adria Malcolm is a visual journalist based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Committed to long form storytelling, she explores themes of substance use disorders, solitude and disease through her work. In 2017, Adria was selected to participate in a mentorship program with Ed Kashi and James Estrin during which she will produce a long form story on the criminalization of addiction. Adria’s is a contributor for The New York Times, Getty, BuzzFeed News and NBC Universal.

http://adriamalcolm.com

@adriamalcolm

Santa Rosa is dying. The town of nearly 2,800 is pressed against New Mexico’s largest freeway — once a booming destination, now a place long-haul truckers spend a night and move on. But some people have stuck around. A mix of ranchers and working-class Catholics live here, an American town that loves its high school football team and has its own radio station that will play a George Strait song followed by Lil Wayne. Blue water towers loom over the old Route 66 thoroughfare with vacant buildings and crumbling storefronts on either side of the road. Boy ranchers in oversized hats show off their rabbits, pigs and roosters at the county fair. Teenagers work at the Dairy Queen after school. But one by one, the older businesses are disappearing. A devastating hail storm hit the town in 2013, and it still hasn’t recovered with locals struggling to make the repairs to this day. Parents can no longer leave their kids at day care, the local IHOP shut its doors and drug use is rampant. The constant flow of truckers and travelers keep a string of 20 motels and two truck stops in business. The heart of Santa Rosa may not be so lucky. One thing that will never disappear are the families who call this small American town home and their affinity for the place they call home.

Santa Rosa is dying. The town of nearly 2,800 is pressed against New Mexico’s largest freeway — once a booming destination, now a place long-haul truckers spend a night and move on. But some people have stuck around. A mix of ranchers and working-class Catholics live here, an American town that loves its high school football team and has its own radio station that will play a George Strait song followed by Lil Wayne. Blue water towers loom over the old Route 66 thoroughfare with vacant buildings and crumbling storefronts on either side of the road. Boy ranchers in oversized hats show off their rabbits, pigs and roosters at the county fair. Teenagers work at the Dairy Queen after school. But one by one, the older businesses are disappearing. A devastating hail storm hit the town in 2013, and it still hasn’t recovered with locals struggling to make the repairs to this day. Parents can no longer leave their kids at day care, the local IHOP shut its doors and drug use is rampant. The constant flow of truckers and travelers keep a string of 20 motels and two truck stops in business. The heart of Santa Rosa may not be so lucky. One thing that will never disappear are the families who call this small American town home and their affinity for the place they call home.

Santa Rosa is dying. The town of nearly 2,800 is pressed against New Mexico’s largest freeway — once a booming destination, now a place long-haul truckers spend a night and move on. But some people have stuck around. A mix of ranchers and working-class Catholics live here, an American town that loves its high school football team and has its own radio station that will play a George Strait song followed by Lil Wayne. Blue water towers loom over the old Route 66 thoroughfare with vacant buildings and crumbling storefronts on either side of the road. Boy ranchers in oversized hats show off their rabbits, pigs and roosters at the county fair. Teenagers work at the Dairy Queen after school. But one by one, the older businesses are disappearing. A devastating hail storm hit the town in 2013, and it still hasn’t recovered with locals struggling to make the repairs to this day. Parents can no longer leave their kids at day care, the local IHOP shut its doors and drug use is rampant. The constant flow of truckers and travelers keep a string of 20 motels and two truck stops in business. The heart of Santa Rosa may not be so lucky. One thing that will never disappear are the families who call this small American town home and their affinity for the place they call home.

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