“As community activists we had to turn to visual imagery to capture the reality of our disenfranchisement in this society. We had to tell our own stories and honor our friends and families who were mischaracterized as depraved and criminals. We had to visualize our humanity and our empowerment." — Lillian Jiménez (filmmaker, educator, activist)
Born in 
Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Máximo Rafael Colón is a New York based photographer who studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Although his primary medium is analogue photography, Colón also creates assemblages. His works have been exhibited in several venues throughout New York City and Puerto Rico and a number of his photographs form part of the Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Colón’s work was prominently featured in ¡Presente! The Young Lords in New York at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, El Museo del Barrio, and The Loisaida Center in Manhattan. He is currently editing My Upside-down World: Deconstructing Photography, a five year digital project encompassing photographs from New York, Puerto Rico, Berlin, Mainz, Paris, Havana, and Toronto. His works can be found in numerous publications and are part of many private collections.
