Livia Corona

Enanitos Toreros

May 6 - 30, 2010

Made over the course of ten years, Livia Corona's series Enanitos Toreros shows us the life and work of little people who perform in Mexico and parts of the US as the famed Dwarf Bullfighters of Mexico. In the summer of 1998Corona was invited to tour with them after she made a headshot of a woman bullfighter, and soon found herself welcomed as a long-term documentarian of their experience.

Not shy to cohabitate the realities she photographs, Corona's work for this series offers an intimate view of lives built on entrenched cultural constructions of what a "dwarf" is. Often taken at eye-level with her subjects, Corona's approach centers on how we see dwarfism, rather than on what people with dwarfism look like.

Her photographs and interviews reveal that with a lack of viable employment options and support services for little people in Mexico, performing as "Enanitos Toreros" has created an itinerant community for individuals with similar physical characteristics. Many of Corona's subjects take pride in making dwarfism more visible and in defying stereotypes through their performances. "By presenting these images . . . made in their homes and at their workplaces, on their tours and in some cases at their specific request, I hope to share a perspective on the relativity of scale and physical appearance."

Blue Sky's exhibition will display both Corona's color and black-and-white images from Enanitos Torerosin a unified presentation employing the full height of the gallery walls.

Livia Corona was born in Mexico in 1975. Most recently she was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for her photography and film project, "Two Million Homes for Mexico." In addition to Enanitos Toreros (2008), Corona has published Of People and Houses(2009) in collaboration with architecture critic and theorist Andreas Ruby. Corona's work has been exhibited internationally, including shows at The National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City; Funadació Pilar i Joan Miró, Palma de Mallorca; Instituto Cervantes, New York; The LP II Art Centre, Rotterdam, Photo Quai, Paris; and Ballroom Marfa, Texas. She is the recipient of numerous recognitions, and was nominated by The Lucie Awards as "International Photographer of the Year." Corona is a graduate of the Art Center College of Design, and is based in New York and Mexico City.

Travel support for Livia Corona provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.