Luis Gonzalez Palma

This is a sumptuous survey of Gonzalez Palma's artistic evolution. Luis Gonzalez Palma is modernist photographer, born 1957 in Guatemala City where he later opened up a celebrated portrait studio. Palma studied architecture and cinematography at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala and then turned to photography. He has had 58 dedicated exhibitions of his work in Europe and America over the past 25 years. Of mixed Native background, Palma's photography focuses on the plight of the indigenous Mayas and mestizo (mixed) people of Guatemala. His photographs evoke psychological and cultural issues embodying what these people have gone through since before, during, and after the genocide of their race. Symbolism is important in Palma's work along with which he uses sepia tints but tending to leave the whites of the eyes untinted, in order to intensify the subject's gaze. Critics say this helps bring out the issues that the artist is trying to explain or explore. Another major part of his oeuvre is collage, layering on top of his subjects a mix of key words or symbols. Palma declares that he tries "to portray the soul of a people" in his photographs, but - inevitably - there are those who accuse him of exploitation.