ABSTRACT
This chapter compares the optical metaphors in the novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and the photo series Out of Focus Nuyoricans by the Puerto Rican artist ADÁL. The essay highlights the complex political aesthetics of these two works and the various ways that they layer multiple meanings. The chapter further examines their portrayal of mad scientists who want to culturally assimilate the characters into the United States. Opposed to these destructive mad scientists, ADÁL and Ellison construct a new kind of creative technologist who does not try to fix their communities, but who gives them a space for creative expression.
