Tonatiuh.

Photographs by Juan Brenner. Text by Pedro de Alvarado. Artist interview with Christian Michael Filardo.

Editorial RM, Spain, 2019. 160 pp., 9¾x11¼x¾".

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2019 by:

Alejandro Cartagena

Shortlisted for the 2019 Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation First PhotoBook Award.

In Aztec mythology, Tonatiuh was the sun god. The Aztec people considered him the leader of Tollan, heaven and was also known as the fifth sun because they believed that he was the sun that took over when the fourth sun was expelled from the sky. According to some accounts, when Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado arrived in Mexico, he was mistaken for Tonatiuh because of his blond hair and red beard, which aided his taking over the Aztec empire and, subsequently, much of Central America including Guatemala (where he was governor), Honduras and El Salvador.

This book is a series in which photographer Juan Brenner carries out an in-depth visual study of current Guatemalan society from the perspective of miscegenation and the incalculable consequences of the Spanish conquest. Establishing Pedro de Alvarado as a central figure not only in the conquest of Guatemala, which in fact he was, but rather as a key figure in the formation of a complex, segregated and deeply troubled society.

Juan Brenner visited more than 50 towns across Guatemala, following Pedro de Alvarado's steps to take the photos. At the end of the photobook there is a map indicating the places he went and an explanation of the images giving a powerful vision of this work. The book approaches topics of social impact in Central America, like violence, gender issues and migration, providing a panorama of modern-day Guatemala.

Cat# ZJ045H Hardbound $245.00 (9788417047856)
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