The ANTIHEROES were born by accident when Bilbao-based artist Susana Blasco was snacking on some nuts while making a collage out of antique photographs. One fell from her hand and onto the decades-old print, transforming the anonymous subject into a bizarre character, ripped from the pages of a whimsical storybook.

The beauty of Blasco’s village of mutants lies in the fact that she never has to physically tear or cut the original prints as is usual in similar collages; she simply sets some object or another onto the surface of the sepia artifacts.

The original images are gathered by the armful from thrift stores and flea markets throughout Europe. Friends from overseas in the Americas ship time-worn photographs by the bundle, and although Blasco has dusted off some keepsakes from her own family’s history, the people pictured are for the most part unknown to her.

While Blasco’s creations certainly embrace the humor of the absurd, there’s also an earnestness in the way she relates to the past. One can’t help but notice the macabre fact that many of these people have since passed away, but in becoming the ANTIHEROES, they are reincarnated as modern-day chimeras, ludicrous apparitions emerging from the darkness of years gone by.

Follow the ANTIHEROES and their antics on Instagram. Prints are available through Etsy.

All images © Susana Blasco

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