Making Macho Latino Action Heroes

By Santiago Forero

Austin, Texas — As an artist, I work with familiar media images to show how society molds beliefs about itself, particularly how these images encourage superficial judgments about the “other”.

In my recent series, entitled Action Heroes, I’ve been photographing myself as heroic male characters, stereotypes that have been exploited in mass media for years. I intend to address issues of identity and masculinity by portraying myself in roles I would never be able to inhabit in real life because of my physical characteristics.

By projecting my own image, a body type outside the average, I hope to question not only what is considered normal—but also the idealized masculine, heroic characters that appear in fiction and daily life.

See more of Santiago Forero’s work at http://www.santiagoforero.com.