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In the bustling streets of La Paz and the sprawling suburbs of El Alto, Bolivia, nearly three thousand shoe shiners emerge each day in search of clients. For three years, Federico Estol collaborated with a group of sixty shoe shiners through El Hormigón Armado, a local organization and newspaper which advocates for the rights of shoe shiners, and offers educational workshops and financial support. Through a participatory workshop-based process, they created "Héroes del Brillo," a special edition of the organization’s newspaper that invited the shoe shiners to imagine a new version of their story. Borrowing from the visual language of comic books and graphic novels, and incorporating elements of daily life in El Alto, the group challenges societal perceptions through a narrative that portrays the shoe shiners as urban superheroes rising to meet the local demand for polished footwear. See “Héroes del Brillo” by Federico Estol, on display, pre-security in Terminal 3 and online at: https://bit.ly/3A7dXHK
This image was posted on November 04, 2024.