THE RAVINE, THE VIRGIN, & THE SPRING

His latest book, The Ravine, the Virgin, & the Spring, published by Pomegranate Press, is a topographic study of his hometown’s intimate eccentricities. The title, a blend of Guatemala City’s nicknames that speak to its geography, faith and eternal sunshine, reflects his bittersweet ode to the city. Shooting primarily from his car, Brenner spent months discovering spaces and emblems unseen and unfamiliar to locals. “This book began from wanting to understand why Guatemala is the way it is,” Brenner says. “We never really recovered after the earthquake.

Architecturally it‘s so stark with limited urbanism, but the slums grew in uncontrollable ways. It‘s hard to move around, it’s dangerous, crime is up and rising, and mass transportation sucks. You are forced to be in a bubble all the time.” By putting a frame around the city’s chaotic harmony, Brenner finds new ways to interact and describe the territory. “I like to think of my work as the B-side of Guatemala – it’s a surprise that no one has heard of, but turns out to be much better than the single.”

Gem Fletcher for British Journal of Photography