Heroes

Tito Texidor / Unsplash

The recent spike in the popularity of superheroes in the US (and perhaps globally – I am not sure) fascinates me. Perhaps it is a reaction to the terrorism and war that have plagued us since 9/11.

The New York Times ran an analysis of the photography of the Black Lives Matter movement and found that many of the iconic photos that have emerged from news coverage of BLM have framed black protagonists as superheroes.

These photos illustrate the power of imagery to express and reflect feelings that we would struggle to capture adequately in words. As the critic explains, “What these images do is make elaborate internal states like patience, fearlessness, anger and dignity temporarily visible.”