Panama City by Lorena Endara (February 23, 2010) 
(10 votes, average: 3.40 out of 5)
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Curator Statement by Michael Itkoff
Lorena Endara, a photographer based in New York and Panama City, is interested in highlighting the relationship between the United States and Panama. Perhaps no other country is defined as much by a lack of space—the panama canal—and its role as a conveyor of goods as Panama. As a major hub of trade and people, both trans-oceanic and trans-continental, Panama is both a victim and beneficiary of the global economic system. Panama is dependent upon trade and tourism but Endara’s pictures show us a landscape at war with itself, increasingly marked by the scars and steel of development. Within this context who knows how much longer the isthmus will be able to preserve its unique traditions and culture.
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Our poll "A photo essay always needs a great written story" closed. 267 people voted, 28% agrees, 72% disagrees. 233 people answered our follow-up question "Are you a photographer?" 82% indicated they are, 18% said no. Initially, negative answers to question #1 were almost 100% as was the pecentage of photographers among respondants. Then, when the level of non-photographers started to rise, the percentage of people indicating good text is always essential started to rise too. This seems to indicate that non-photographers think that adding good text to your photo essays is essential. In my opinion: if you want non-photographers to dig your work, you know what to do...
Whether or not I am taking photographs, I always observe the landscape: the physical landscape as indicative of the socio-political one and vice-versa. These meditations allow me to connect with where I am and explore my evolving relationship with the world. Observing the landscape, I find, is curiously like reading a history book in the making.
When ships carrying passengers or goods pass through the Panama Canal they unknowingly leave behind a trace. Despite the widespread wealth generated by the Canal, a main source of national income, it is mainly concentrated in the capital, Panama City. The influx of foreign capital into Panama overdevelops a fragment of the country while neglecting the majority of it. Consequently, Panama City becomes a place where tourists feel more at home than natives do. Being a Panamanian citizen myself, I marvel at these contradictions.
I use photography to reflect on the country in relation to the historical, political, and economic processes that continually shape it. As I photograph in the documentary tradition, I am guided by a sense of nostalgia for a Panama I never knew as well as a concern for the future of my country. By capturing the multiplicity of worlds that exist within Panama, such as the fragile relationship between urban jungles and natural havens, I seek to explore and represent Panama's identity as well as my own.
Lorena Endara (1984) lives and works in New York City, USA.
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