Photographs by Graciela Iturbide Essay by Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez In the annals of Latin American politics, Omar Torrijos of Panama was a David against Goliath, a charismatic leader who challenged the landed rabiblanco (white tails) oligarchy, redistributed land and wealth, and died tragically in a 1981 plane crash widely rumored to be the work of the CIA. The Torrijos legend is of a man of action, yet an introspective thinker. Known for macho swagger: "They will find us standing or dead, but NEVER on our knees!", he is also remembered for the poetic, even romantic: "He who gives love, receives love." This is a unique, intensely personal homage to Torrijos by two giant talents, the great Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide, who befriended Torrijos in the 1970s, and photographed this period of social upheaval in Panama and the Nobel Prize-winning Columbian writer Garcí a Márquez. It shows Torrijos in never-before-published photographs and never-before-told personal reminiscences, offering up candles of memory. Márquez describes a moody, lonely president drinking whiskey all night, and in predawn, summoning one of six different women he had relationships with to keep away the demons. This homage by two friends is meant as a corrective to history. Hardly a dictator who silenced opposition, closed the media, ran up debt and turned a blind eye to corruption, instead they argue for Torrijos as a flawed hero in the footsteps of Simon Bolivar: the first Panamanian leader to advocate for the majority population, the poor and mestizo (indigenous, Hispanic, and African), an innovator who opened schools and job opportunities for the less fortunate, initiating wide-ranging social and economic reforms, like a new labor code and comprehensive health care, especially in rural areas, along with ambitious public works programs, including roads and bridges that greatly benefited the rural areas. Torrijos also lured foreign investment, especially banking, to make Panama a regional financial center, but his greatest legacy and gift to his people was the Canal Treaty, signed with President Carter in 1977, giving the people of Panama Control over the "big ditch." With Torrijos` son Martin now wearing his father`s mantle as the young and dynamic president of Panama, the circle of history is complete. This is a memoir of love and redemption about a man ahead of his time, told with power and pathos. About the Authors: The Colombian-born writer Gabriel Garc a Márquez is winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize and first won international fame with the masterpiece, One Hundred Years of Solitude, a defining classic of twentieth-century literature. His many novels create a world of great beauty and great cruelty; a world where love brings both redemption and enslavement; and a world where the lines between objective reality and dreams are hopelessly blurred, where flowers rain from the sky and dictators sell the very ocean, where reality is subject to emotional truths as well as physical boundaries. Graciela Iturbide was born and lives in Mexico City. She studied filmmaking and later still photography at the Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematograficos at the Universidad Nacional Autanoma de México from 1969-1972. It was there she met Manuel Álvarez Bravo, and in 1970-1971 apprenticed with him. The first exhibition of her work was in Tres Fotagrafas Mexicanes at the Galerí a José Clemente Orozco in Mexico City in 1975. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held around the world, including OMC Gallery for Contemporary Art, Düsseldorf; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Robert Miller Gallery, New York; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterey, Mexico; and Casa del Lago, New Mexico. She is the recipient of a Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography (1987) and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship (1988). She is the author of three books and many catalogues. Hardcover / $40 USD 9" x 9" / 112 pages 70 b+w photographs October 2008 ISBN: 978-1-884167-68-3 Website price: $20

Exhibition Information: In the annals of Latin American politics, Omar Torrijos of Panama was a David against Goliath, a charismatic leader who challenged the landed rabiblanco (white tails) oligarchy, redistributed land and wealth, and died tragically in a 1981 plane crash widely rumored to be the work of the CIA. The Torrijos legend is of a man of action, yet an introspective thinker. Known for macho swagger: "They will find us standing or dead, but NEVER on our knees!", he is also remembered for the poetic, even romantic: "He who gives love, receives love." This is a unique, intensely personal homage to Torrijos by two giant talents, the great Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide, who befriended Torrijos in the 1970s, and photographed this period of social upheaval in Panama and the Nobel Prize-winning Columbian writer Garcí a Márquez. It shows Torrijos in never-before-published photographs and never-before-told personal reminiscences, offering up candles of memory. Márquez describes a moody, lonely president drinking whiskey all night, and in predawn, summoning one of six different women he had relationships with to keep away the demons. This homage by two friends is meant as a corrective to history. Hardly a dictator who silenced opposition, closed the media, ran up debt and turned a blind eye to corruption, instead they argue for Torrijos as a flawed hero in the footsteps of Simon Bolivar: the first Panamanian leader to advocate for the majority population, the poor and mestizo (indigenous, Hispanic, and African), an innovator who opened schools and job opportunities for the less fortunate, initiating wide-ranging social and economic reforms, like a new labor code and comprehensive health care, especially in rural areas, along with ambitious public works programs, including roads and bridges that greatly benefited the rural areas. Torrijos also lured foreign investment, especially banking, to make Panama a regional financial center, but his greatest legacy and gift to his people was the Canal Treaty, signed with President Carter in 1977, giving the people of Panama Control over the "big ditch." With Torrijos` son Martin now wearing his father`s mantle as the young and dynamic president of Panama, the circle of history is complete. This is a memoir of love and redemption about a man ahead of his time, told with power and pathos. Total 102 items to occupy 150 linear feet: - 3 gelatin-silver prints at 30 x 40 in. matted with a 4-ply archival board - 2 gelatin-silver prints at 30 x 30 in. matted with a 4-ply archival board - 1 gelatin-silver print at 40 x 30 in. matted with a 4-ply archival board - 1 gelatin-silver print at 30 x 60 in. matted with a 4-plyarchival board - 11 gelatin-silver prints at 16 x 16 in. framed - 10 gelatin-silver prints at 10 x 10 in. framed - 19 gelatin-silver prints at approximately 8 x 10 in, varying sizes, framed - 30 caption panels, bi-lingual Spanish and English: 5x8 inches - Crates: 3 Total (350 lbs.) 1 @ 30 x 22 x 34 in. 2 @ 44 x 35 x 36 in. 1 @ 64 x 20 x 35 in - 6-8 weeks booking - Fee: $5900 plus prorated one-way shipping and insurance - Artists available for panels and lectures - 15 free copies of catalog / publication Torrijos included with each book Download the press release