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Genesis
Juan Brenner

June 6-August 15, 2025
Opening Reception: June 6, 6-9pm
Free and open to the public 
Aurora PhotoCenter, Main Gallery
1125 Brookside Avenue, Suite C9, Indianapolis

Juan Brenner’s series Genesis is filled with the beauty, aspiration, sanctity, and desire of the Guatemalan Highlands, where Brenner lives and works. In his images, as in the Highlands, traditional codes of power intermingle with a vibrant and vital youth culture, which mixes the ancient dress trajé with heavy metal t-shirts, ornate teeth art, and the ubiquitous cell phone. Published as a book in 2024 by Guest Editions, the large-scale prints in this exhibition of Genesis distill the grit, glamour, and always gold of the Highlands.

Brenner writes of his work:

“For the last 5 years most of my work has been focused on understanding the complex phenomena pertaining to a very particular and important territory known as the Guatemalan Highlands. Starting from the Spanish invasion of Guatemala in the 16th century and its repercussions, then going through the imposed obscurantism that subdued and crushed the local reigns and finally a new colonial system that shifted the power balance in favor of the invaders, I've been garnering many ideas that have become key ingredients in my subject of research.

The youth of the highlands is the first generation to effectively establish an intelligible dialogue with their contemporaries around the world. There is a vitality that springs from the territory itself, along with a splendor that always belonged to this group — an energetic force — Indelible and intense, gradually gaining traction after a blurry reality instilled during colonial times. With this body of work I intend to document the process of becoming, the shift and changes of the social structure in the highlands and the coming of age of a new generation developing in the area.”

In conjunction with the exhibition, Brenner will lead the workshop Editing Longform Projects, June 7 & 8. Over this two session workshop, Juan Brenner will share his experience in wrangling multi-year projects into manageable shape for publishing and exhibition opportunities. For more information and to register for the workshop, click here.

After working in New York as a fashion photographer for over a decade, Juan Brenner returned to his native Guatemala where he began making work about the people and complex territory in the country’s Western Highlands. Juan uses photography to reflect on the fluidity and abstract nature of identity and territory. His images capture the complexities of cultural hybridization and, more poignantly, the way power, hierarchical structures and inequality are instrumentally continued through time. Brenner’s first monograph, Tonatiuh, was shortlisted for the 2019 Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation First PhotoBook Award. For the same project, he was a winner of LensCulture’s 2019 Emerging Talent Award. His works have been featured in publications including Aperture, British Journal of Photography, Le Monde, VICE, C-41, Aint Bad, Fisheye, Booooooom, California Sunday Magazine, Paper Journal, Collector Daily, I-D Magazine, Dazed and Confused, Pardo, Loupe, Palm Studios, Metal Magazine, Musee, JOIA and Balam Magazine. He is also a founding member of Proyectos Ultravioleta in Guatemala City.

Annual operating support for Aurora PhotoCenter provided by the City of Indianapolis through the Indy Arts Council. Additional annual support provided by the Efroymson Family Fund, Joy of Giving Something Foundation, Inc., Aurora Members, and donors who believe in Aurora’s mission.