Photographer and writer Arturo Soto
@arturosotophoto reviewed Tierra de árboles, Land of Trees for the VII Foundation's Dispatches Magazine:
“Systemic political oppression can be difficult to define for outsiders of a country, since every aspect hinges upon cultural and historical specificities. This explains why pictures from conflicts that gain traction in the media tend to be very graphic, appealing to representational conventions we insist on calling ‘universal’. However, no single photograph can illustrate the forces that cause long-standing conflicts. In a country like Guatemala, where large groups of people have lived under oppression throughout a string of political regimes, showing the diversity of issues at play in a given period can be particularly challenging. In Tierra De Árboles (Raya, 2024), the Mexican American photographer James Rodríguez has sought to capture the adversity endured by indigenous communities and some of their resistance efforts…
Tierra De Árboles offers a digressive view of the prevailing social conflicts since that hopeful period in the 90s. The book includes works made between 2005 and 2023, serving as a summation of Rodríguez’s professional life in the Central American country…
Many of Rodriguez’s pictures are richly layered, requiring external information to decode them. Thankfully, the book incorporates a variety of texts that enrich our viewing experience. Excerpts from history books, reports, and interviews provide a gateway to understanding the pictures’ context…
If one takes the time, these texts increase the significance of seemingly modest pictures.”
Thank you, Arturo, for your keen review and for delving into the depths of my book.
@rayaeditorial @viifoundation
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