Maya Portraits: Guatemalan Lives
An art exhibit by Debra Rodman Ruiz
Debra
Rodman Ruiz is a cultural anthropologist, Ph.D. candidate at the University
of Florida and Visiting Instructor in Anthropology and Women's Studies
at Randolph-Macon College.During her dissertation research in Eastern
Guatemala during 2001-2002, Debra used digital film and video to help
document the impact of how international migration from Guatemala to the
United States was impacting men's and women's lives in a small bicultural
community of Maya and Ladinos (people of both Maya and European descent).Debra
was often asked by community members to film local events.In the process
she collected various portraits of community members who assisted in her
research both in Guatemala and in migrant communities in the United States.
This exhibition of photos emphasizes the community of San Pedro and
its inhabitants, both of the indigenous Maya and their Ladino neighbors,
peoples living side by side in the same community in the Highlands of
Eastern Guatemala. Their portraits illustrate the peoples of this community
and illustrate ethnic differences and human commonalities.
Debra's artwork was on display in the Center for Women's Studies and Gender Research, 3324 Turlington Hall, from August 16th to December 10th, 2004.
Pictured: San Luis Woman
