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Nicolas Silberfaden: Superheroes

Due to the current economic, social and cultural crisis in The United States of America today, I have decided to do a photographic project consisting of a series of studio portraits of superhero and celebrity impersonators that live and work in the city of Los Angeles. Most of them unemployed Americans, they decided to suit up with their costumes and hit the streets, animate parties and events in efforts to make ends meet. Making them pose in their costumes against a colorful backdrop, I ask them to manifest feelings of genuine sadness – honest emotions that are a consequence of our current times. The result is a somber, striking visual image that contradicts the iconic nature of strength and moral righteousness typical in American superhero and celebrity imagery. Creating the illusion that Superman does exist – that he too was fallible and affected by America’s downturn.

Nicolas Silberfaden
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06 Dec 2012 12:13:00
Demonstrators hold masks depicting Colombian citizen Mile Virginia, who was murdered along with photojournalist Ruben Espinosa and three other women, during a protest in Mexico City, August 16, 2015. Espinosa, a prominent Mexican news photographer was among five people found dead in a middle-class neighborhood of the capital on July 31, 2015. (Photo by Tomas Bravo/Reuters)

Demonstrators hold masks depicting Colombian citizen Mile Virginia, who was murdered along with photojournalist Ruben Espinosa and three other women, during a protest in Mexico City, August 16, 2015. Espinosa, a prominent Mexican news photographer was among five people found dead in a middle-class neighborhood of the capital on July 31, 2015. Espinosa, who worked for the weekly magazine Proceso and the photo agency Cuartoscuro, had sought shelter in Mexico City earlier this summer saying he had been followed and threatened in the eastern state of Veracruz. (Photo by Tomas Bravo/Reuters)
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17 Aug 2015 11:36:00
“So you're on a boat in Bahamas and then this pig swims by begging for food”. (Photo and caption by Lisa Larsen/Public Domain)

The Bahamas, the Commonwealth nation of hundreds of islands roughly the size of Connecticut and with population of just a bit over Anaheim, is known for its crystal waters and pristine beaches. This is possibly one of the world’s most beautiful havens of nature, yet people are coming here to see pigs. It is unclear when the pigs first appeared on Exuma Island or where they come from. There’s talk about a daring escape from a shipwreck, or sailors releasing the swine on purpose. In all probability, there were no pigs on this tropical paradise before European settlers came, so their mere presence is the work of human. The intriguing feat of nature, however, is that this population of pigs developed a fine aptitude for swimming. Here: “So you're on a boat in Bahamas and then this pig swims by begging for food”. (Photo and caption by Lisa Larsen/Public Domain)
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03 Sep 2015 11:53:00
(L-R) A man nicknamed "Barcelona", Alexey Bolotov and Alexey Jakushin drink vodka as they travel by a pioneer motorised railcar on their way to Kalach, Sverdlovsk region, Russia October 18, 2015. The "pioneer," a light auxiliary rail vehicle, is a popular form of transport among people who live along the Alapayevsk railway. (Photo by Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

(L-R) A man nicknamed "Barcelona", Alexey Bolotov and Alexey Jakushin drink vodka as they travel by a pioneer motorised railcar on their way to Kalach, Sverdlovsk region, Russia October 18, 2015. The "pioneer," a light auxiliary rail vehicle, is a popular form of transport among people who live along the Alapayevsk railway. In a remote corner of the Urals region at the end of a narrow-gauge railway is Kalach, population about a dozen. Three decades ago 600 people called the village home, but the local forestry industry suffered as the former Soviet Union imploded and people moved away in search of work. In Kalach today there are no telephones, no mobile reception and only a few hours of electricity a day. (Photo by Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)
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15 Nov 2015 08:06:00
Chinese artist Kong Ning walks in her costume made of hundreds of orange plastic blowing horns during her art performance raising awareness of the hazardous smog in front of the Drum tower in a historical part of Beijing on a very polluted day December 7, 2015. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

Chinese artist Kong Ning walks in her costume made of hundreds of orange plastic blowing horns during her art performance raising awareness of the hazardous smog in front of the Drum tower in a historical part of Beijing on a very polluted day December 7, 2015. Kong, whose works include themes related to China's air pollution problem, named her new performance “The Orange Horns Bride Marries the Blue Sky” and presented it dressed in orange, the colour of the second highest pollution alert level issued again in Beijing as hazardous smog blankets the capital. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)
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09 Dec 2015 08:05:00
Chinese artist Kong Ning poses in a costume symbolizing a butterfly, which is decorated with 365 masks on its wings to represent the number of days in a year, during her performance art at the Badaling section of the Great Wall on the outskirts of Beijing January 1, 2015. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Chinese artist Kong Ning poses in a costume symbolizing a butterfly, which is decorated with 365 masks on its wings to represent the number of days in a year, during her performance art at the Badaling section of the Great Wall on the outskirts of Beijing January 1, 2015. Kong, whose works include themes related to China's air pollution problem, named her new performance art “Hua Die” (transforming into a butterfly) and performed it on the first day of the new year as she hopes that China has clean air for this year. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)
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02 Jan 2015 12:24:00
A resident types a text message on her mobile phone, as she sits on a bench made from a tree, which is a creation by Brazilian artist Hugo Franca at Largo da Batata square in Sao Paulo March 17, 2015. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

A resident types a text message on her mobile phone, as she sits on a bench made from a tree, which is a creation by Brazilian artist Hugo Franca at Largo da Batata square in Sao Paulo March 17, 2015. Franca, a designer from Sao Paulo is working with the city to make use of fallen trees to turn them into sculpture furniture to line the city's parks, streets and plazas. Brazil's largest city was slammed by several strong storms this rainy season that brought with them heavy rain, lightning and winds as high as 90 kilometres (55 miles) per hour. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)
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20 Mar 2015 11:34:00
Tattooing Pigs By Wim Delvoye

Wim Delvoye is a notorious tattoo artist, who became famous when he started tattooing live pigs. He first began in 1997 and after animal rights activists found out about what he was doing, he had to move to China to continue his business. There is nothing special about the tattoos that Wim Delvoye creates, they look mediocre at best, and the only reason why he’s famous is his acts of animal cruelty. Nevertheless, Wim states that the pigs feel just fine and are well fed and taken care off. Full anesthesia is used to ensure that the pig doesn’t feel pain during the course of the whole procedure. During this time three tattoo artists work on the tattoo simultaneously to complete it as quickly as possible. Skins of those pigs are then sold for as much as £50k a piece.
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02 Apr 2015 09:06:00