Hello I Am Kitty Exhibition by Joana Toro

This exhibition by the Colombian documentary photographer examines concepts of immigration, identity, and social issues. She captured these intriguing images while dressed in a Hello Kitty costume, posing with people in New York’s Time Square.

In 2019, the book Hello I Am Kitty was published in Tragaluz, Colombia. The artist describes her work on this project as, “the result of a personal journal to find my new ‘identity’… while I asked for donations after posing for pictures in Times Square.”

Toro is a self-taught photographer based in New York City and Bogotá, Colombia. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, World Press Photo Witness, Open Society Foundations, and Photo World China Magazine, among others. She worked as a staff photographer with major magazines and newspapers in Colombia before she migrated to the United States in 2011 to further her career.

In 2020, Toro’s work was included in the public collection of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. It has been exhibited in international photo festivals all over the globe, including Les Femmes s’exposent France 2019, Photoville New York, Guate Photo (Guatemala), Just another Festival (India), International Photography Festival (China), and others. In 2020, Toro also received the Eyewitness Photojournalism Grant by the Pulitzer Center and Diversify Photo, and a National Geographic COVID-19 Emergency Fund grant.

The Gallery Hours are Monday through Friday: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm | Saturday & Sundays: CLOSED | Open during performance
The exhibitions are free and open to the public.

Artist Talk and Book Signing at the Opening Reception, January 13, 2023 at 6pm. Register here.