FERVOR by Juan Brenner
FERVOR, by Juan Brenner, is a photographic essay that explores desire as a vital force in Guatemala’s Western Highlands, a region marked by historical violence and complex power dynamics.
Brenner’s photography poetically captures the interplay of devotional practices, everyday life, and digital culture, using the enigmatic folk saint San Simón as a symbol of resistance and transformation.
San Simón, a mediator between the sacred and the profane, embodies the tensions and possibilities that emerge from these cultural intersections.
The book unfolds in Guatemala’s highlands, where Indigenous, Catholic, and postmodern elements coexist and collide. It highlights local rituals and gestures of faith, while also tracing the impact of twenty-first-century technology on cultural identity in Latin America. Brenner’s work demonstrates how devotion adapts to changing power structures and community needs, revealing resilience as both a collective and spiritual act.
Through striking portraits and symbolic details, FERVOR examines the fluidity of identity and territory. Scenes of ritual, daily life, and digital media are woven together into a visual meditation on resistance, survival, and transformation. Desire emerges here not only as an intimate longing but also as a political and generative force: one that sustains life and redefines belonging.
Printed in Barcelona on sustainable materials, this hardcover, first edition of 1,500 copies is designed as a tactile object, featuring natural paper, blind embossings, and a quiet, deliberate layout that invites slow looking.
Both intimate and expansive, FERVOR blends contemporary Latin American photography with a poetic sensibility, offering a compelling meditation on how belief and resilience endure in a fractured world.
Specifications
Hardcover, sewn binding
144 pages
98 plates
185 x 240 mm / 7.28 × 9.44 in
English edition
ISBN 979-13-990536-6-1
Legal Deposit B 11382-2025
First Edition of 1500 copies
About the Author
Juan Brenner (b. 1977, Guatemala City) is a self-taught photographer of international recognition who currently lives and works in his hometown. He uses photography as a critical tool to examine the fluidity and hybrid nature of contemporary identity and territory.
His work explores the complexities of cultural hybridization and how historical structures and present-day subjectivities are transformed through the technologies of the 21st century. In 2024, he received the Portrait of Humanity Vol. 6 Award from the British Journal of Photography, and in 2025 he was a finalist for the prestigious KBr Photo Award by Fundación MAPFRE.
His work has been published and exhibited internationally, appearing in Le Monde, Dazed, and across various contemporary photography festivals and galleries worldwide.