Past Library Exhibition

 

No matter where one is from in Latin America—from Mexico to Argentina—Latinos across the world share a commonality in finding solace and strength in their history, community, and culture through storytelling. Storytelling connects the past to the present, and through the visual literature of comics, comes alive with both words and images.

 

The exhibition ¡Somos Superpoderosxs! Latines in Comics celebrates Hispanic and Latine heritage, showcasing the many ways Latine characters, histories, and culture are a part of the comics universe, from stories told about lucha libre, brujeria and spiritualism, homies and lowrider culture, and the Chicano movement, to comics across Latinoamérica that give insight on the humor and culture of specific countries, such as Condorito, which is iconically Chilean, and Mafalda, which captures the Argentinean political climate of the late twentieth century. The exhibition also includes works by renowned Chicano comic creators Javier Hernandez (El Muerto), Rafael Navarro (El Sonámbulo), Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez (Love and Rockets), J. Gonzo (La Mano del Destino), and Henry Barajas (La Voz de M.A.Y.O.). 

 

¡Somos Superpoderosxs! Latines in Comics draws from the Latinx Comics and Visual Literature Collection at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and the private collection of CSRC Librarian Xaviera Flores and animator and cartoonist Jeaux Janovsky.