GUIDED VISIT OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER Lys Arango

Until the corn grows again

In Guatemala, 1 in 2 children suffers from chronic malnutrition, the highest figure in Latin America.

Climate change is destroying the crops of hundreds of thousands of small farmers, fueling a human crisis and creating a new migration pattern: climate refugees. But instead of following them in their exile, I turn my lens to the day-to-day realities of where these people come from. I focus on the underlying causes, zooming in on the reality of living in a place where food is scarce.

Malnutrition is an underdocumented phenomenon. Although we all know that hunger exists, we rarely see the everyday experiences of those who suffer from it. Children with malnutrition have physical and cognitive limitations, which in turn perpetuate the cycle of poverty. I began this documentary photography work at the Dry Corridor of Guatemala in 2019 and developed it over the course of three years in Mayan communities of Chiquimula and Huehuetenango. I built there an intimate relationship with several families and was able to document their struggles and hopes, as well as the consequences of malnutrition, also known as “the silent killer.”