Panama; Manga por Hombro by Daniel Loaiza

At first site Gamboa seems like a forgotten town in the middle of the richest rainforest you can imagine, Panama Pacifico seems like an ideal residential area to raise a family, to jog and cycle around.

At first sight for me at mid-2011, Panama seemed to be very Panamanian at least those were my first impressions. During 2011 I had the opportunity to meet one of the most encouraging Panamanian person; ¨Rosa Maria¨, she thought and showed me around the whole city and some historical facts.

Later on, I visited her and that country many times, never thought to have a photographic approach, every time I went I learned new things about its ethnic population, its history, and its people. With deep respect, I started getting very curious about this country especially on the areas which in the past were occupied my American families or institutes.

The places that most touched me were those ones where you could almost touch an irreversible North American print on abandoned places and that is a constant reminder of recent history for the Panamanians. Panama has many things that want to be alike with the United States but also has many areas that are basically the United States, almost untouched but truly abandoned. The images make me wonder so as the places, of, who, why and how was everything during the times of the United States direct occupation in Panama, I wonder who lived in those houses, I wonder who played basketball in that court, I wonder if military staff thought if a bunker was necessary among many other wonders that echo in my mind every time I made my way into those places. Hoping to discover answers I planned and made an essay based on all the research made over the years visiting Panama.

About Daniel Loaiza

He sees photography as a powerful agent of creation and destruction. He respects and admires her but he also mocks and despises her. He considers that it is full of many truths and few lies and personally feels it as the most genuine act within the creative artistic process of any human being.

Daniel has been a photographer since a long time ago has many documentarian projects on the go and like to experiment with film, video and transmedia after all.