Poems of Sorrow.

Poems of Sorrow. Photographs by Luis González Palma. Text by John Wood. Arena Editions, Santa Fe, 1999. 144 pp., 70 four-color illustrations, 10x10".

The first edition of this special limited edition of Poems of Sorrow is available to pre-order from photo-eye (only a very limited amount of copies available. The book is otherwise out of print). "This substantial collection perfectly embodies Palma's soulful and mysterious imagination with a stunning design and many previously unpublished images."

About the limited edition:
"The limited edition (of 100) is boxed, signed, numbered, and contains a 9X9" hand-colored (by the artist) silver print of the cover image."

"Guatemalan artist Luis Gonzalez Palma has gained widespread recognition over the past decade for his photo-based portraits that are rich with the symbolism of indigenous myth and culture, Catholicism, and humanity. The figures that inhabit Gonzalez Palma's mythic world-angels, devils, hybrid creatures, and enigmatic characters-transcend time and place, suggesting that mysticism and beauty are his ultimate subject matter. He has said, "I live in a country where there is mysticism and violence at the same time - where you are enjoying nature and the helicopters are flying overhead to bomb some region; where you know that as you are working, someone is being killed or someone is being baptized." Yet Palma's landscape is not that of Guatemalan politics, but that of the soul, portrayed in both its beauty and its sorrow.

Poems of Sorrow is the first major monograph on Luis Gonzalez Palma. Accompanying the plates is an insightful essay by John Wood.

Selected as one of the fifty outstanding book designs of 1999 by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)"