People of Maize
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I chose to paint because it allowed me to express and focus my experiences in a different way than purely taking photographs. The first month was spent observing daily life in the villages and listening to their stories. Not until the second month did I start to paint. The aim of my portraits is to catch the hidden strengths and conviction in the faces of the people who have survived the massacres. Although today many have new families, they are still trying to come to terms with what happened, how they lost their loved ones so suddenly and so violently. I want my pictures to help raise more awareness about Guatemala and its history so we never become indifferent to any human rights violations happening around the world.
The second group of pictures are dedicated to daily life and show how people foremost the women (with whom I spent more time than with the men) live today. They involved me in their lives and daily activities, making tortillas, crocheting bags, looking after children and helping in the field. I discovered that in spite of their hard and difficult lives where they have to work from an early age on the land and in the house they still manage to preserve a warm character and a good sense of humour. I inspired many of the children and some of the adults to do their own paintings, for some it was their first time. Their pictures were full of the strong colours and motives they see around them everyday. This inspired me immensely. Briefly about Guatemala
Guatemala is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America. A large proportion of its population is formed by indigenous Maya people. Mayas In the past the Maya were one of the most progressive civilizations of the ancient world. They were building splendid temples, creating art works of a high quality, engaging in literature, philosophy and particularly mathematics and astronomy. The Maya sacred book called Popol Vuh describes Maya identity through diverse stories and myths. The Maya’s believed for example, that the Gods created people from maize. That is why they are sometimes called People of Maize (A book by a Guatemalan Nobel price winner for literature Miguel Angel Asturias also carries the same name). The Spanish invasion at the beginning of the 15th century violently destroyed the world of the Mayas along with many other indigenous cultures of the Americas. However, the Mayas in Guatemala have kept some of their heritage, costumes and traditional religious rituals. Moreover, they still speak one of more than 20 dialects that are based on the original Maya language. Since the arrival of the Spanish through to the modern history of Guatemala the Maya people have been persecuted and inhumanly suppressed, deprived of their lands and political representation. Recently in the second half of the 20th century during the civil war, Mayas were again badly affected. Not only that 83 % of all victims of the armed conflict were of Mayan ethnicity but also the symbols of their culture were being destroyed along with the traditional village power structure which in many cases is now lost forever. Discrimination and racism toward indigenous people still goes on today. The same elite groups, descendents of the colonialists have all the power, richness and social prestige. Programmes for development and support of rural areas, where most of the Mayas live, are at the bottom of the list for the Guatemalan government.
Civil war Economical, cultural and social roots of the conflict can already be found in the colonial era. At the same time when the independent republic came into existence an authoritative state was also created. This state used racist practices to protect the interests of the privileged minority. All protests against the social injustice were ruthlessly suppressed. Polarization of the society culminated in the 1960’s during the civil war which lasted the unbelievable span of 36 years. It is estimated that during the conflict more than 200.000 people were killed which is more than during the civil wars and military dictatorships in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile and Argentina all together. 90 percents of atrocities were committed by government armed units.. The most cruel and bloodiest campaign took place at the beginning of the 1980’s. The army was killing and burning whole villages in order to discourage civilians from collaborating with oppositional guerrilla groups. The war was officially ended by signing a peace agreement between the Government and guerrilla in 1996. But the repercussions of war still go on. Not only were thousand of people killed but many more had to flee their homes. Almost everybody became a victim of fear and economical down fall caused by militarization. Today the society is still fragmented by conflicting groups that rose up during the civil war. Because of the war experience criminal illicit activities have increased heavily and also lynching has spread. Looking for justice
It is estimated that 440 Guatemalan villages were affected by a military campaign called “scorched earth”. Tens of thousand civilians mainly Mayan were killed. In May 2000 a Guatemalan organisation CALDH (El Centro para la Accion Legal en Derechos Humanos) started to collect testimonies about the massacres from the inhabitants of the affected villages.
In 2000 and 2001 criminal proceedings against the former presidents Romeo Lucas Garcia and Ephraim Rios Montt started. Their aim is to convict them for genocide and other crimes against humanity. Today Lucas Garcia is an old man who suffers from Parkinson disease; he is loosing his mind and lives in exile. Rios Montt carries on as an important political figure despite his dark history. The Army still has a large influence on the people and affect how many remember the war. To this day no justice has been reached; impunity still reigns in Guatemala. At present CALDH supports and represents legally the witnesses from 22 villages joined together with “The Association for justice and reconciliation”. The organisation besides holding meetings for the witnesses of the massacres, also runs workshops to help Maya women from different villages to share their feelings and experiences not only from the war but also from their daily lives. Other sources of information about Guatemale:
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Guatemalan Maya Marimba. 3 minutes. 484 KB
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Matriarchal Project 2005 Katerina & Simon 
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