'Genesis' - A Visual Journey Through the Culture and Youth of the Guatemalan Highlands by Juan Brenner (Guest Editions)
Genesis, the new photobook by photographer Juan Brenner, explores the people and culture of the Guatemalan Highlands. It is the result of five years of intensive work, during which Brenner documented the Highland area and the people living there in his home country. The book focuses on the region's youth culture. “Gen Z in the Highlands is the first generation to be 100% interconnected with the world. And that’s just happened in the last five years,” says the photographer.
The book is a comprehensive study of Highland society, delving into the history, nuances, and complexity of everyday life in this region, with its fascinating cities, villages, and indigenous markets. Brenner’s photography captures a territory in the midst of profound change, with a clear goal of documenting the "process of becoming." From the effects of the Spanish invasion of Guatemala in the 16th century to the legacy of colonial rule, Brenner uses cultural history as the foundation for his research and photography, while also casting an eye toward the future of the region.
A classic portrait features four brothers with albinism, posing elegantly in the town of San Sebastián Huehuetenango. In Guatemala, people with the albinism gene are often called "Tonatiuh" or "Children of the Sun." A recurring motif in the book is the use of ornamental teeth. The use of ornaments in the mouths of the Maya was a tradition established more than a thousand years before the arrival of the Spaniards, with jade being the preferred material. It wasn't until the 20th century that gold-embellished teeth became a fashion and power statement in the Guatemalan Highlands.
Juan Brenner says: “In this monograph, I delve deeply into Guatemala’s ever-changing landscape, uncovering a multifaceted reality, reimagined beauty, and the potential dawn of a new era. The more I worked on Genesis, the less it became about me and the more it evolved into an archive of a moment in time. The Highlands are so dense and rich with stimulus that it’s hard to digest everything at once when you’re there. The final product is a 320-page archive featuring over 250 images, an insightful essay by my friend Julio Serrano, and a compelling conversation with the wonderful Gem Fletcher.”
Juan Brenner is a self-taught photographer living and working in Guatemala City. After more than a decade as a fashion photographer in New York, Brenner returned to his home country of Guatemala, where he began documenting the people and complex territory of the western Highlands. Through his photography, he reflects on the fluidity and abstract nature of identity and territory. His images capture the complexity of cultural hybridization and power structures, vividly illustrating how inequality persists over time. Brenner’s first monograph, Tonatiuh, was shortlisted for the 2019 Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation First PhotoBook Award. For the same project, he won the LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards 2019. He is a founding member of Proyectos Ultravioleta in Guatemala City.
Guest Editions is an independent publishing house, gallery, and creative studio based in London, collaborating with some of the most exciting artists working in contemporary, documentary, and fine art photography today. Guest Editions takes a highly collaborative approach to provide a platform that remains true to the artist's vision and the story being told.
GENESIS by Juan Brenner (Guest Editions)
210 x 260mm book, 259 colour plates, 360 pages
Foil embossed gate-folded cover
320pp image section on Arctic Volume
40pp text and index section on Munken
Essay by Julio Serrano
Conversation with Gem Fletcher
guesteditions.com
juanbrenner.com
CREDITS
Location Guatemala
Photographer © Juan Brenner
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