Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A.), Krome

Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A) was born in Venezuela in 1961 and currently lives and works in South Florida. He began his career by making a name for himself through charismatic performances where he "channeled" the 2,000-year-old spirit of a shaman named Carlos in front of live audiences and through media broadcasts that have been viewed by millions of people around the world. These performances were the subject of a video work presented in the 2004 Whitney Biennial, and at a solo exhibition at The Kitchen in New York. Alvarez was detained in Krome Detention Center in Miami for identity theft for two months in 2012. During this time he created a series of portraits of his fellow detainees using ballpoint pens and whatever paper he could find. The portraits not only capture the physical being of his sitters, but also their powerful stories.