This photographic exhibition comprises 24 portraits of indigenous people and the environments in which they live. It covers four countries: Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru, and Mexico. It provides the opportunity to reflect on the importance of maintaining the identity of indigenous Latin Americans - the roots of their innocence and their eternal solitude, as Aguilar puts it - as they struggle to join the modern world.
Each country exists in a precarious economic condition, with poor or non-existent health care and educational provision and the ever-present threat of being sidelined by the 21st-century world village. Rituals and activities depicted reflect ancient mythologies with an overlay of the brutal European-Colonial period and the introduction of Christianity, which in these images provides its own florid and at times over-blown contribution to the ritual aspects of local life.
Aguilar's hope is that the extremities of life can be resolved without the loss of individuality and tradition. To this end, he is dedicating the profits from sales to investment in these indigenous peoples. All the pictures are untitled and simply framed in white card, which allows them to speak for themselves. No. 4 is of a scene from Guatemala shot through a square stone man-made aperture. What you see through the frame is clearly of spiritual significance, but what you experience is the majesty of snow-capped mountains providing the backdrop for an intimate and almost voyeuristic view into constructs of steep stone steps and neat grass terraces.
Another from Guatemala shows a young mother and her baby, set against a stunning saffron background. The baby is tied safe to the mother's back by a brightly coloured striped wool blanket, as it reaches out of the portrait as if to grasp at a hopeful future.
All the photographs have the shared characteristics of clarity of image, strength of colour and the sheer dramatic beauty of the landscapes. The simplicity of the presentation in the relaxed atmosphere of the Jam Factory provides the opportunity - over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine - to reflect on the magnitude and the inherent beauty of the message Aguilar is communicating.
The exhibition is open daily and continues at the Jam Factory (St Frideswide's Square, Oxford) until June 27.
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