Dulce Pinzón

a conversation about The Real Story of the Superheroes & book signing

Wednesday, March 27, 2013, 7–9pm
Free admission.

 As part of the CCNY Conversations Series, Dulce Pinzón will discuss her recent project, The Real Story of the Superheroes, published by Editorial RM Publishers, Mexico City, in 2012. A Q&A session and book signing by the artist and the workers depicted in The Real Story of the Superheroes will follow the talk.

About Dulce Pinzón

Dulce Pinzón was born in Mexico City in 1974. She studied Mass Media Communications at the Universidad de Las Americas in Puebla, Mexico and Photography at Indiana University in Pennsylvania. In 1995 she moved to New York where she studied at The International Center of Photography. Her work has been published and exhibited in Mexico, the US, Australia, Argentina and Europe. In 2002 Dulce won the prestigious Jovenes Creadores grant for her work. She won an Honorific Mention in the Santa Fe project competition 2006 with The Real Story of the Superheroes series. In 2011 her work was exhibited at the Les Rencontres d’Arles. Dulce is a 2006 fellow in Photography from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She currently resides between Mexico and New York City. Visit her website at www.dulcepinzon.com.

About The Real Story of the Superheroes

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 Mexican economy has quietly become dependent on the money sent from workers in the US. Conversely, the US economy has quietly become dependent on the labor of Mexican immigrants. Along with the depth of their sacrifice, it is the quietness of this dependence which makes Mexican immigrant workers a subject of interest.

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.

This project consists of 20 color photographs of Mexican and Latino immigrants dressed in the costumes of popular American and Mexican superheroes. Each photo pictures the worker/superhero in their work environment, and is accompanied by a short text including the worker’s name, their hometown, the number of years they have been working in New York, and the amount of money they send to their families each week.

This event is co-sponsored by The Mexican Cultural Institute of New York and The Y Gallery.

The publication of The Real Story of the Superheroes was made possible by a grant from the Mexican National Fund for Art and Culture (FONCA).

The sponsors and artist wish to thank promotional partners Mex and the City, and food providers La Superior for their generous support.