Cardboard cutouts
Artist Ramiro Gomez, 25, collects discarded cardboard from a store. Gomez uses the cardboard as a canvas to paint his series on Latino gardeners, nannies and day laborers. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Gomez carves around his painting of a nanny in his studio in West Hollywood. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Gomez places the paintings in public places around the Westside. He leaves his contact information on the bottom. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Gomez hopes his works shed light on the unseen laborers who keep homes and lawns and care for youngsters. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Pedestrians walk past a cutout of a gardener holding a bag of yard clippings mounted on an iron fence along La Cienega Boulevard. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
“We see the beautiful homes. The hedges are trimmed, the gardens are perfect, the children are cared for,” Gomez said. “We’ve come to expect it to be this way. But who maintains all this? Who looks after it? And do we treat the workers with the dignity they deserve? Do we stop and notice them?” (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)