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Katherine Hamilton:
Off the Mayan Trail
Green Pebble Autumn 2007 issue
Guatemala:
A nation notorious for its
drug crimes, corruption, lack of human
rights, and murders. Hardly the usual
destination for a genteel woman armed
only with a sketch book, paints and a
fistful of U.S. dollars. And yet it was
to this South American country that Suffolk artist Katherine Hamilton set
out in 2005, dressed ‘like an old scarecrow’ in order to look
as ‘revolting’ and uninteresting as possible, determined to pass
through Guatemala City unnoticed so that her real journey, into the Western
Highlands, could begin.
'Guatemala’s
capital city, the largest agglomeration in Central America, spreads across
a flattened mountain range run through by deep ravines,’ states the
latest Lonely Planet guide. ‘It’s not a pretty site.’
Contrast this with the Western Highlands, which the guide describes variously
as ‘incredibly beautiful’, ‘vibrant, colourful and fascinating’
and ‘dramatic’.
It was no accident then, that Katherine chose this remote region for her latest
inspiration. Having already built up an impressive catalogue of paintings
in locations such as Senegal, India and Madagascar, Katherine makes a policy
of deliberately avoiding tourist spots in favour of unexplored locations;
places where the beauty is flawed, interesting and gritty.
And the Western Highlands did not disappoint. When Katherine arrived at her
lodgings she was immediately drawn to the vista of the Zunil Valley snaking
its way into the hills. This scene was to inspire no fewer than five paintings,
each exploring the textures, colours and light of an agricultural area which
grows an enormous range of crops on terraces carved into lava-rich fields....
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