The photographs were made between 2011 - 2012 in and around Panama City.
"'In The Heat' is a subjective depiction of Panama's urban landscape. The series interrogates how personal experience influences the ways one negotiates, and ultimately represents a place.
Panama’s presence in the collective unconscious is frequently limited to its canal, exotic sceneries and recent political history. The title is meant to allude to the capital’s humid climate, but also to my bittersweet stay of two years.
The narrative avoids the typical imagery highlighted by the travel industry, in which color is used to promote prepackaged experiences, leaving out whatever contradicts that illusory lifestyle." (Arturo SOTO, Assistant Professor of Latin American History, University of Toronto)
“[...] Throughout the year, thousands travel from Mexico, Costa Rica, and Colombia to go shopping in Panama’s megamalls, air-conditioned temples to commodity fetishism. Shoppers stroll through the arcades of conspicuous consumption, passing brilliant window displays of leading US and European chains – Cartier, Calvin Klein, the Gap, Swarovski, and Tommy Hilfiger Kids. After a day of shopping, visitors can retire to their hotels, often directly attached to the malls. But this is not the Panama City that you will get from Arturo Soto’s photographs.” (Kevin Coleman)
"Perceptions of Panama are frequently limited to its canal, exotic sceneries, and recent political history. Yet this book offers a subjective description of its urban landscape. Arturo SOTO explores how personal experience influences the ways one negotiates and ultimately represents the landscape.
The vibrant country and illusory lifestyle in travel brochures that promote pre-packaged experiences is purposefully absent. Instead he depicts banal spaces that contradict notions of progress and economic growth. Not initially intended as social critique, the project attempts to capture the social values and disparity that can be found in the urban environment. With an essay by Kevin COLEMAN " (publisher's note)
About the photographer, Arturo SOTO (*1981 in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico):
Arturo SOTO hold an MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts, an MA in Art History from University College London and undergraduate degrees in Film and Photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He currently lives in the UK, where he's pursuing a PhD in Fine Art at the University of Oxford.
His practice focuses on the sociopolitical markers contained in urban spaces, considering these as a sum of imaginaries that transcend physical space. He's interested in highlighting the importance of the everyday through the language and conventions of documentary photography.
"'In The Heat' is a subjective depiction of Panama's urban landscape. The series interrogates how personal experience influences the ways one negotiates, and ultimately represents a place.
Panama’s presence in the collective unconscious is frequently limited to its canal, exotic sceneries and recent political history. The title is meant to allude to the capital’s humid climate, but also to my bittersweet stay of two years.
The narrative avoids the typical imagery highlighted by the travel industry, in which color is used to promote prepackaged experiences, leaving out whatever contradicts that illusory lifestyle." (Arturo SOTO, Assistant Professor of Latin American History, University of Toronto)
“[...] Throughout the year, thousands travel from Mexico, Costa Rica, and Colombia to go shopping in Panama’s megamalls, air-conditioned temples to commodity fetishism. Shoppers stroll through the arcades of conspicuous consumption, passing brilliant window displays of leading US and European chains – Cartier, Calvin Klein, the Gap, Swarovski, and Tommy Hilfiger Kids. After a day of shopping, visitors can retire to their hotels, often directly attached to the malls. But this is not the Panama City that you will get from Arturo Soto’s photographs.” (Kevin Coleman)
"Perceptions of Panama are frequently limited to its canal, exotic sceneries, and recent political history. Yet this book offers a subjective description of its urban landscape. Arturo SOTO explores how personal experience influences the ways one negotiates and ultimately represents the landscape.
The vibrant country and illusory lifestyle in travel brochures that promote pre-packaged experiences is purposefully absent. Instead he depicts banal spaces that contradict notions of progress and economic growth. Not initially intended as social critique, the project attempts to capture the social values and disparity that can be found in the urban environment. With an essay by Kevin COLEMAN " (publisher's note)
About the photographer, Arturo SOTO (*1981 in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico):
Arturo SOTO hold an MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts, an MA in Art History from University College London and undergraduate degrees in Film and Photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He currently lives in the UK, where he's pursuing a PhD in Fine Art at the University of Oxford.
His practice focuses on the sociopolitical markers contained in urban spaces, considering these as a sum of imaginaries that transcend physical space. He's interested in highlighting the importance of the everyday through the language and conventions of documentary photography.
- Ed(s)/Author(s)
- Kevin Coleman
- Book design
- Rob VAN HOESEL
- Format
- Linen bound HC (no dust jacket, as issued), 23 x 30 x 1,5 cm., 64 duotone b/w ills., English, Ltd. to 600 copies