Dulce Pinzón’s The Real Story of the Superheroes

By Deputy Editor Thea Lim

On the SCI FI Wire (surprise!) I saw this:

superdelivery

This photo is one of 20 colour photographs taken by Dulce Pinzón for her exhibition “The Real Story of the Superheroes,” running at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery in DC, from November 4 -28.

On her website Pinzón writes:

After September 11, the notion of the “hero” began to rear its head in the public consciousness more and more frequently. The notion served a necessity in a time of national and global crisis to acknowledge those who showed extraordinary courage or determination in the face of danger, sometimes even sacrificing their lives in an attempt to save others. However, in the whirlwind of journalism surrounding these deservedly front-page disasters and emergencies, it is easy to take for granted the heroes who sacrifice immeasurable life and labor in their day to day lives for the good of others, but do so in a somewhat less spectacular setting.

The Mexican immigrant worker in New York is a perfect example of the hero who has gone unnoticed. It is common for a Mexican worker in New York to work extraordinary hours in extreme conditions for very low wages which are saved at great cost and sacrifice and sent to families and communities in Mexico who rely on them to survive…

The principal objective of this series is to pay homage to these brave and determined men and women that somehow manage, without the help of any supernatural power, to withstand extreme conditions of labor in order to help their families and communities survive and prosper.

Each photo includes the worker/superhero’s name, hometown, the number of years they have worked in New York, and the amount of money they send every year. The text accompanying the photo up top states:

NOE REYES from the State of Puebla works as a delivery boy in Brooklyn New York. He Sends 500 dollars a week.

Here’s another one:

The copy on this one states:

MARIA LUISA ROMERO from the State of Puebla works in a Laundromat in Brooklyn New York. She Sends 150 dollars a week

And one more:

FEDERICO MARTINEZ from the State of Puebla works as a taxi driver in New York. He Sends 250 dollars a week.

To see all the photos, visit Dulce Pinzón’s website, or if you’re lucky enough to be in DC, go see it in the flesh!

However I would avoid the SCI FI Wire site. The commenters there don’t appreciate Pinzón’s vision…

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[...] quite breaking news — I remember reading about this earlier in the year — but Racialicious had a post on it this week, spurred by a current gallery exhibition in Washington, [...]
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Comments

Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist wrote:

this is very cool! but ugh, I’m annoyed to hear that the reception isn’t pleasant on Sci Fi Wire site. What do you expect from a bunch of pathetic, mysogynistic, racist, white fanboys?

Posted 12 Nov 2009 at 1:25 pm ¶
Persia wrote:

Those are amazing!

Posted 12 Nov 2009 at 1:31 pm ¶
That Queer Chick wrote:

scifiwire.com also calls Pinzón “he.” I guess all artists are men by default, even one with a bio that says different right on her website.

Posted 12 Nov 2009 at 1:34 pm ¶
blaqbird wrote:

loves it!

Posted 12 Nov 2009 at 1:35 pm ¶
planet claire wrote:

i love how the sci fi folks didn’t even take the time to figure out that dulce is a woman. sheesh.

these photos have been shown in various shows in NY, Mexico, and around the country. they also make up a calendar in collaboration with (and to benefit) the Jackson Heights non-profit New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) that can be bought here: http://www.nynice.org/?page_id=164#Calendar.

Posted 12 Nov 2009 at 2:16 pm ¶
Thea Lim wrote:

@planet claire

Thanks for sending the link to the calendars! I will definitely be buying some of those for Christmas presents…

Posted 12 Nov 2009 at 2:48 pm ¶
DogsofWar wrote:

As Thea Lim and DIMA both pointed out, the thread for the SciFi posting can really get the blood boiling, but I’m a masochist and went on there anyway, against my better judgment.

And planet claire’s point about how Ms. Pinzón was suddenly magic-wanded into a “he,” despite the fact that a mere tw0-mouseclick fact check would’ve cleared that up, was a good call.

I’m also a little confused about terminology. Isn’t the def. of a migrant worker a person who migrates for seasonal work (usually in agriculture)? Unless they know for sure, then we can assume most of the folks in the photos are permanent or semi-permanent immigrants. Not sure if the nomenclature matters here, but seems to be par for the course just to throw out any ole term for folks from Latin America.

Anyway, I think the superhero motif also served as a nice metaphor because, much like these cartoon heroes who remain masked and therefore myterious, immigrant workers are often rendered anonymous or unseen by the mainstream culture.

Def. cool photos, and a good reminder of people who remain the unsung backbone of things, especially in NY where I grew up.

Pinzón apparently also got her photos included on the cover of the latest edition of Zinn’s People’s History of the U.S.– I’ll def. be following her stuff.

Posted 12 Nov 2009 at 5:03 pm ¶
Ray wrote:

This concept is very Arthur Miller and his play, Death of a Salesman

Posted 12 Nov 2009 at 5:20 pm ¶
Leezel wrote:

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I can clap to this. Hard-working immigrants are for sure heroes to be admired and praised. On the other hand, too often immigrants of color (especially women) are exploited. So, it concerns me that this cool slick humorous portrayal of everyday heroes is glossing over the ugly brutal truths that accompany the journeys of the heroes.

Posted 12 Nov 2009 at 6:15 pm ¶
mieko wrote:

My favorite is Spiderman. Works perfectly with what he’s doing! What superhero is the man in red with the wheelbarrow? He had googley things on his head.

Posted 12 Nov 2009 at 6:17 pm ¶
Jess wrote:

I think the one with the wheelbarrow is Daredevil (old version– he used to be decked out in red and yellow before going all-red) or Iron Man but it is hard to tell through the slats. It’s possibly a Mexican superhero tho. I’m not up on them at all, so if anyone has any idea… let us know.

Curious — I assume she had everybody dress up? Or was it photoshopped? Some combination?

I thought this idea was pretty cool.

@DogsofWar — Pinzon on her site uses the term “immigrant worker” and I think that’s probably right — a big chunk of people do end up staying on. Other than that, yes, there are a whole set of issues with exploitation.*

But I don’t think that Pinzon was attempting to tackle all those issues in one go, not with this project. I could be wrong (I would want to ask her) but I don’t get that sense from the pictures as they are.

*For example, the very fact that people send money home becomes problematic because it can (if the economy they are sending to is small enough relative to the remittances — El Salvador, Haiti, Guatemala, and locally in Mexico) artificially inflate the local currency, and artificially deflate the dollar (it becomes more valuable than it “should” be due to demand), creating a two-tier system of currencies that actually ends up creating more pressure to send people abroad to work and send more dollars (or euros) home, which feeds the exploitation in the host country. At a minimum this makes the job of the Salvadoran or Guatemalan or Mexican finance minister tougher by messing with the cost of foreign-denominated debt.

Posted 12 Nov 2009 at 7:20 pm ¶
Sonic wrote:

I liked the website. I think it’s a good way to get the message across. I didn’t know who two of them were: the guy in white and the guy with flames on his head. But otherwise, creative.

Posted 12 Nov 2009 at 11:49 pm ¶
Fisher wrote:

please don’t malign all sci-fi/comix fans. I’m one of *many* who do not think that way.

this exhibit is really great, and I’m sharing with my other “fanboy” (remember some of us are women) friends.

Posted 17 Nov 2009 at 12:02 pm ¶
Roy wrote:

The guy in red with the wheelbarrow is portraying El Chapulin Colorado (aka The Red Grasshopper), from the 1970s tv show by the same name.
The guy with flames on his head (in the kitchen?) is the Human Torch.
The guy in white handing out ice cream looks like he’s supposed to be Iceman, to me (it’s the ice cream and the X on his belt).

Posted 17 Nov 2009 at 12:57 pm ¶
Angelica wrote:

Did anyone else check out Dulce’s website and look at the other display under “multiracial?” Thoughts?

Posted 17 Nov 2009 at 1:27 pm ¶
Jess wrote:

thanks Roy. I thought the guy in white was supposed to be Moon Knight, but that would be a bit obscure for most folks (I mean, does anyone else remember the guy?) and I didn’t see the X.

Posted 17 Nov 2009 at 3:35 pm ¶