Livia Corona is a master of her craft. A native of Ensenada, Mexico, she grew up around the hustle and bustle of a life just beneath the border. Educated at the Art Center College of Design in New York, Corona perfected her skills as a photographer and has gone on to exhibit her work in galleries around the world, and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for her latest project.
This month, Blue Sky Gallery will be hosting an older exhibit by Corona that was 10 years in the making. Enanitos Toreros is an eye-opening account of life as the only openly discriminated group of people in Mexico—dwarfs. No matter how cruel, the gimmick is wildly popular throughout Mexico. Picture it—an entire bullfight that is run by little people; the entire time they take ridicule, humiliation and pain all for the purpose of finding peace within a community of individuals that look like them.
Corona received unprecedented access into the lives of the rodeo people. Inherently untrusting of people with cameras, the trust was built slowly and Corona was able to show that she wanted to tell their stories and reveal to the world that the lives of little people are exactly like ours—except their vantage point is much smaller.
The photos are all taken at the eye level of the subjects. This technique plays a huge role in the overall way we, the viewers, interpret the images and feel about the characters. Why? Because in the photos, we are one of them.
Corona is trying to show that we only understand the idea of weird or odd within the limitations of our society or community. Being a little person is only weird or odd if you’re a big person, but if you’re little then…that’s just life. The exhibit exposes the prejudices that we have towards people different from us and how this predisposed image is reflected and ingrained in the people within those groups.
Mexican society doesn’t allow the opportunity for improvement in the lives of little people. Often given labor jobs that require them to leave town or live a life of solitude, the bullfight is the only way to escape the monotony of life as a second-class citizen.
In Corona’s own words, “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.”
Equal parts beautiful and heartbreaking, Enanitos Toreros is a fascinating and eye-opening experience, both visually and emotionally. Both color and black and white prints are on display which reveal a world we would have literally looked right over.