Picture Show: Real Life Super Heroes

August 23, 2010 • 6:00 am PDT
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In the real world, no man can outrace a bullet. No woman commands storms with her mind. No one spins webs from his wrists or flies across continents or shoots lasers from his eyes. But that doesn't mean there aren't super heroes among us. Inside every human is the capacity to do something kind, brave, and strong for our fellow humans; some among us simply choose to do so in secret. In the spirit of the heroes who fill the pages of comic books, an unlikely assortment of men and women have been donning masks and costumes, and venturing into their respective neighborhoods to feed the hungry, comfort the sick, and protect the innocent.

The Real Life Super Hero Project is the photographer Peter Tangen's attempt to document the work of these loosely affiliated individuals; it's also a gallery exhibit designed to raise money for the causes with which these men and women are affiliated. Highlighting the people who do good under the secrecy of masks with no hope for personal gain, the Real Life Super Hero Project is a call for all of us to engage with and help those around us.

"Celebrate and honor them," says Tangen. "And find the hero in all of us."

Patrick James
Writer / Former GOOD Managing Editor
Peter Tangen
Photographer

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Portraits of the masked members of the Real Life Super Hero Project, by Peter Tangen.

Posted in: Picture Show,; Culture,; Cities,; News

Tags: culture,; portland,; giving,; altruism,; cities,; atlanta,; washington d.c.,; super heroes

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Picture Show: Real Life Super Heroes

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