Justice, janitor, Albany, New York
Quarantined in my apartment, I put out a call on Twitter saying that I wanted to draw those workers who could not stay at home: delivery people, shelf stockers at grocery stores, nurses, janitors, and cashiers. In the next few hours, more than 50 people wrote to me. I drew these portraits from the selfies they sent me in their work clothes. These are the underpaid, ignored, essential workers who have always made the earth move—and now are forced to risk their lives doing it.
Ross Grooters, railway worker, Iowa
Seanan El Daher, delivery nurse, Rhode Island
Sarah, pharmacy clerk, Tustin, California
John, janitorial facilities cleaner, Paso Robles, California
Jay, warehouse worker, Texas
Dot, physician assistant, New York City, New York
Anty, grocery shopper, Brooklyn, New York
Abby, grocery store cashier, New Jersey
Aaron, grocery store worker, Morningside Heights, New York
Alison, Target worker, Massachusetts
Jacob, paramedic, Ohio
Simon, delivery worker for goPuff, Texas
This project was made possible in part by support from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
Molly CrabappleMolly Crabapple is an artist and writer for outlets including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and The New York Review of Books. She is the author of Drawing Blood and National Book Award–nominated Brothers of the Gun, with Marwan Hisham. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.