Dulce Pinzon

Biography

Pinzón was born in Mexico in 1974. She studied Communication at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla and Photography at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She moved to New York in 1995 and studied at the International Center of Photography. She lives and works between Mexico and New York.

Real Stories of Superheroes

The main goal of this project, done in 2006, was to pay homage to the brave and determined men and women who somehow manage, without the help of any supernatural power, to work many hours in extreme conditions for low wages that are saved at great cost and sacrifice and sent to Mexico as remittances, which are used to help their families and communities back home to survive. Pinzon was influenced by her nostalgia in Mexico and pop culture as a medium to get her views across to through her art. This is a form of cultural consumption, costumization, and intervention, which is part of the Circuit of Culture. Her project demonstrates how through consumption there can be customization, mash-ups, or re-inventing of products in order to create new meanings. She is able to intervene the mass media and incorporate the images of day to day laborers that sacrifice their lives to "progress." Pinzon's project raises awareness of Latina/o issues and their important role in U.S. society. This series was made of 20 color photographs of Mexican immigrants dressed in the costumes of well-known American and Mexican superheroes. Pinzon breaks down the artwork into five sections. These sections are 1)Name of the hero, 2)Name of the daily worker, 3)Name of their home country, 4)What the laborer does for a living, 5) and the amount of economic remittances that they send weekly to their home country. One example of these everyday superheroes is Noe Reyes who was 37 years old at the time of this project. For the photo, Reyes dressed as superman while delivering food at a restaurant. He sends hundreds of dollars back to Mexico every month. There are many undocumented workers from Puebla that reside in New York who work as dishwashers, deli workers, and cleaning women who are rarely recognized for their everyday acts of sacrifice and heroism. Another example, is the story of Minerva Valencia, she dressed up as Catwomen for Dulce's artwork. She came to New York from Puebla and works as a babysitter in New York. The amount of economic remittance that she sends back to Puebla, Mexico is four hundred per week. This project has been put on display in Casa De La Cultura de Nuevo León and at the Mexican Cultural Institute through Santiago Espinoza de los Monteros's "Mirrors: Contemporary Mexican Artists in the United States". The process taken by Pinzon in her art activism was cultural consumption (superheroes), customization (Mexican laborers portrayed as superheroes), and intervention (art display in mainstream areas).

Loteria

Dulce Pinzon was inspired by the dualistic culture within Mexicans in New York. She demonstrated this concept of dualism in her project "Loteria." By using images of the well known Mexican card game, she projected these images on the naked bodies of her New York friends and loved ones. This is also representative of Fernando Ortiz's concept of transculturation. By using the images of "Loteria" onto the human bodies of New York residents, she demonstrates how culture counter-flows through people's migration patterns, which is a form of cultural remittances.

Exhibitions

• 2011: Rencontres d'Arles festival, France.