A window washer dressed as Spiderman scales a building. A nanny clad as Cat Woman attends to children. A pizza delivery man wearing Superman garb rides a bike with pies in the basket.
The humourous photographs by Mexican artist Dulce Pinzon depict real immigrant workers in their everyday jobs. But the images also proclaim them as super heroes who work gruelling hours to make a better life for their families.
It's an idea inextricably linked to the immigrant experience in America and one that echoes throughout a new exhibit at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago.
The collection, called "A Declaration of Immigration," is designed to challenge US immigration policies and call attention to unsuccessful attempts at reform, according to the museum's president Carlos Tortolero.
"Immigration affects the whole world," he said. "Immigrants are human beings who live in this country and contribute to this country. To be pro-America, you have to be pro-immigrant."
The approximately 100 pieces - paintings, photographs, sculptures, quilts and artifacts - run the gambit of the immigrant experience.
Quilts tell the story of Hmong immigrants. Photographs show a Korean family's appreciation of Elvis and football. A retablo of carved figurines depicts the harrowing journeys some immigrants make to arrive in the US.
Tortolero got the idea for the exhibit about two years ago when Congress approved a fence along the US border with Mexico.
He said he was disturbed that both presidential candidates Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama voted for the fence. So he sees the exhibit as a way to open a discussion about immigration reform, particularly in a presidential election year.
A large sign at the entrance of the exhibit mimics the US Declaration of Independence, proclaiming that America is "a nation of immigrants."
It also says that "the construction of the wall along the United States-Mexico border would stand as a symbol of persecution, much like the 20th century Berlin Wall."
Several pieces criticize the Department of Homeland Security, particularly immigration policies like fingerprinting foreigners at airports.
Portraits by Danish artist Anni Holm feature the faces of three women from India, Columbia and Italy; their faces are comprised of fingerprints.
Other works are haunting.
In a series of oil paintings by Ana Fernandez, a woman completes menial tasks in outdoor landscapes. In one, she vacuums the border at San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. Written on the border wall is, "No puedo pasar indiferente ante el dolor de tanta gente," which translates roughly as, "I cannot cross (the border) indifferently without acknowledging the pain of so many people."
Other paintings and drawings depict non-citizen immigrants who have fought in US wars abroad.
A comic book-like drawing by Eric J. Garcia shows a "G.I. Jose" poised with a gun. A line underneath him reads, "Always treated as foreigners except when needed to kill foreigners." Nearby an Uncle Sam figure says "Se Habla Espanol."
The exhibit also reflects the lighter side of immigrant life.
One installation, called "Phone Home" by Mario Ybarra, is a glass case full of colourful international calling cards. Another piece by Alejandro Diaz shows a series of tongue-in-cheek handwritten signs. One reads: "No Mexicans/No Tacos/You Better Think Twice America."
Also included in the exhibit is a photograph of a 2006 immigrants rights march in Chicago when more than 100,000 people took to the streets. There's also a portrait of immigration activist Elvira Arellano, who defied a deportation order and lived in a Chicago church for a year with her US citizen son. It's called "Sorrowful Mother."
