1969

The Apollo 11 landed on the moon, marking one of the most significant milestone in mankind’s conquest into space. It was one of the defining moments in mankind’s history – the sense of awe, hope, humility, and a basket of other indescribable emotions can still be felt through as one takes a walk back through the event transcript:

Then Armstrong said the famous words, “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

Shortly after landing, before preparations began for the EVA, Aldrin broadcast that: “This is the LM pilot. I’d like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.

He then took Communion privately.

At 2:56 UTC on July 21, Armstrong made his descent to the Moon’s surface and spoke his famous line “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind” exactly six and a half hours after landing.Aldrin joined him, describing the view as “Magnificent desolation.”

2008

Fast forward to 2008 – the Phoenix lands, and locates one of the critical factors for possibility of life in space – water on Mars. And here’s the defining moment – a tweet:

With The Incredible Hulk out, I suppose Mr. Green Giant would be more busy with promotions and screening galas. But what does he do on the rest of the years? Well, it turns out that he’s putting his talents to work loading/unloading greengrocer trucks:

Here are some of his fellow superhero buddies putting their talents to good use when they’re off-screen:

On a more serious note, these photographs are actually a series by Dulce Pinzón, a Brooklyn-based photographer. Through this series of photographs, she examines the roles of Mexican immigrants in the role of the American economy:

The principal objective of this series is to pay homage to these brave and determined men and women that somehow manage, without the help of any supernatural power, to withstand extreme conditions of labor in order to help their families and communities survive and prosper.

This project consists of 20 color photographs of Mexican immigrants dressed in the costumes of popular American and Mexican superheroes. Each photo pictures the worker/superhero in their work environment, and is accompanied by a short text including the worker’s name, their hometown in Mexico, the number of years they have been working in New York, and the amount of money they send to Mexico each week.

The silent contributions of the Mexican immigrants are highlighted through the instant recognition derived from the superhero images that are well-anchored in our pop culture. In this way, we recognize that these immigrants do contribute heroic efforts within the economy, but with much less fan-fare, adoration and dare I say respect.

For more photos and description of the series, head on to Dulce Pinzón’s Superhero site.