Fran Antmann: Maya Healers – A Thousand Dreams | LENSCRATCH

Maya Healers: A Thousand Dreams explores the ancient healing practices of the Maya people of Guatemala. Over the course of a decade, photographer and writer Fran Antmann gained the trust of families and native healers in mountain villages surrounding Lake Atitlan. She was allowed to visit sacred places and witnessed a tradition in which healers are believed to have connections with the supernatural and to derive their power and knowledge from dreams. These rituals survive today, despite being forbidden during a genocide of the Maya people committed over several decades until 1996 by government forces. Antmann captures this history of healing, documenting it in 100 black and white photographs woven together with moving, personal stories in her book, recently published by Nirala Publications.