In The Heat

Perceptions of Panama are frequently limited to its canal, exotic sceneries, and recent political history. Yet this book offers a subjective description of its urban landscape. Arturo Soto explores how personal experience influences the ways one negotiates and ultimately represents the landscape. The vibrant country and illusory lifestyle in travel brochures that promote pre-packaged experiences is purposefully absent. Instead he depicts banal spaces that contradict notions of progress and economic growth. Not initially intended as social critique, the project attempts to capture the social values and disparity that can be found in the urban environment. With an essay by Kevin Coleman.