Dedicated to our super powered children who demonstrate to all of us what it means to believe in one’s own super power.
Currently installed on the fences of the Dr Ronald McNair Park, along Eastern Parkway and Washington Avenue in Brooklyn through September 30, 2022. The Super Power of Me Project was created by the children of NYC and poet/photographer Karen Zusman. It is a large scale outdoor exhibit of portraits and poems–written by the children in the photos–and is accompanied by free children’s poetry and writing workshops held at the park in July and August.
I’m grateful to the families—we started out as strangers and through the creation of this project we became collaborators and friends. I’m also grateful to the Leica Women’s Foto Project Award, which helped to make this exhibit possible.
But most of all I’m grateful to and inspired by the openness, honesty, and joy of these children who taught me things about themselves, history and even myself—for in the end, it is these children who demonstrate for all of us the strength and beauty of what it means to believe in one’s own super power.
PROJECT AND ARTIST’S BACKGROUND
Hello, my name is Karen Zusman but I happily answer to KZ. I’m self taught in photography but have a an MFA in poetry from Columbia University. I came to photography as a necessity while documenting human trafficking in Southeast Asia. This work was featured on PBS, NPR and I received a Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting Grant in order to continue my coverage. The Super Power of Me was created over the course of two years, beginning in the summer of 2020 at the height of the pandemic and our country’s moment of social reckoning. In 2021, it received the Leica Women’s Foto Project Award.
above photo credit: Mike Lambert
THE TEAM
The Super Powered Children of NYC:
Counter clockwise from front: Yamiah, Kyle, McKenzie, Eléna, Kem
(Not pictured: Zaria, Zamiya, Obi, Mason, Umi, Nalo, Taiyou, Elodie, Kris, and Kayden)
KZ
Karen Zusman is an award-winning photographer and poet living in Brooklyn, NY. (Picture of (part of) Team Super Power: Zaria, Zamiya, Yamiah and KZ from our opening event).
Photo Credit: Katie Godowski
IG: @kzusman
IG: @superpowerofmeproject
Darren Dobson is our super powered design and video editor.
Darren is a Black Nonbinary Texas-based Digital Artist. They received a bachelor’s degree in New Media Arts at the University of North Texas. Darren currently focuses on 3D art, digital art, and Photography. They use many tools and shapes to cultivate visual imagery and capture the viewer’s mind. They have worked on a wide variety of projects, including Music Videos, Digital Photography, 3D Modeling, and Animation.
© 2022 The Super Power of Me Project; all images on this website © karen zusman, please do not reuse without explicit artist’s permission.