(MDSSA) The Third Shift: El Tercer Turno

The Third Shift: El Tercer Turno is a 7-minute video installation that combines medical tool demo footage with participant-generated content and excerpts from an unstructured interview with a “maquila” (low-wage assembly plant) worker in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The worker, employed by a subsidiary of a multinational pharmaceutical and medical technologies company, recounts experiencing serious health problems caused by working night shifts. Diego Bravo’s video reveals the irony of producing life-saving tools while workers endure disabling conditions, long hours, low wages, and chemical exposure—problems typical in maquila industries along the US-Mexico border.

Diego Bravo’s community-based research and ethnographic fieldwork in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico explore the lived experiences of women and young adult maquila workers. His work examines disabling working conditions in the maquila industry, highlighting the intersection of labour, health, migration, gender, and environmental racism.

A photo from The Third Shift: El Tercer Turno — A black-and-white image portrays a desolate wasteland strewn with discarded debris—mattresses, plastic containers, used tires, bricks, and torn fabric—spreading almost endlessly into the horizon at the border town of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. At the forefront lies the skeletal remains of a white dog, its decayed form starkly juxtaposed against the surrounding refuse, serving as a poignant reminder of neglect and abandonment. The barren landscape, appears hostile yet saturated with the remnants of human consumption and construction debris, evokes a profound sense of desolation and environmental decay. The tonal contrasts amplify the somber mood, turning the scene into a visual statement on waste, mortality, and the fragility of existence at the industrialized border zone between El Paso, Texas, United States and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico.