“Heroes: My Heroes Actually Have Real Super Powers” features 10 pieces by artist Bart Cooper, through May 22, Crayola Gallery, The Banana Factory, Bethlehem.

“These are women of color. These are women who impacted the world and America,” says Cooper.

“Rosa Parks: Iron Man” (2019; digital print, 48 in. x 48 in.) is from Cooper’s “Heroes” series. “Why do you all push us around?” is among several quotes attributed to the iconic Civil Rights activist that surround her likeness as she wears a T-Shirt bearing an Iron Man logo.

Parks became famous for being arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man.

Harriet Tubman was the first to inspire the series by Cooper.

“I had a 23-year-old friend who didn’t know who Harriet Tubman was. He knew Superman and what the Superman logo was,” says the artist. His friend knew of Tubman as “the underground railroad lady.”

This inspired Cooper to create the series to make extraordinary women and their accomplishments known to a younger generation. The series is intended to “give the women their flowers and their powers,” says Cooper.

Linking the contemporary and historical figures to well-known comic book superheroes helps bring them into the spotlight, Cooper says.

The series includes “Oprah Winfrey: Captain America,” “Angela Davis: The Punisher,” “Lucy Parsons: Magneto,” “Madam C.J. Walker: Batman,” “Sojourner Truth: Green Lantern,” “Henrietta Lacks: The Incredible Hulk,” “Nina Simone: Wonder Woman” and “Winnie Mandela: Black Panther.”

The mixed media works were created in 2019 with acrylic paint, acrylic markers, and digital images on canvases measuring 48 in. x 48. in. The digital prints on display are the same size as the originals.

The Los Angeles-based multidimensional artist was born in West Africa. At age six, his family emigrated to the United States. They fled a civil war in Liberia.

The 1997 Whitehall High School graduate received some art instruction, but is primarily self-taught. “I learned how to draw figures using comic books,” says Cooper, who developed “a love for comic books and history.”

Cooper held a mini-residency in February at Whitehall High School and continues to hold seminars and workshops in person and online.

Exhibit sponsors include Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, PPL Corporation, Crayola, Moravian University, Capital Blue Cross, People First FCU, Penn State Lehigh Valley, Lehigh University, Faces International, ArtsQuest and United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.

Also on view at the Banana Factory: “Kailey Atkinson: My Mind Is an Escape Room,” through May 15, Banana Factory Hallway, and “William Harris: Abecynnia,” through May 22, Banko Gallery.

The Banana Factory, 25 W. Third St., Bethlehem, 8 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. Monday - Friday; 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday, Sunday. www.bananafactory.org; 610-332-1300

“Gallery View” is a column about artists, exhibitions and galleries. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com