Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.- An exhibition of photos by Dominican photographer Pedrito Guzmán on social and environmental themes, mostly taken in the east of the Dominican Republic will be launched at the Punta Cana Art Gallery, Punta Cana Village (Plaza Bolera) on December 3rd 2008 at 7:30pm. The exhibition will remain open to the public until the end of the month.

Gallery director, artist Thimo Pimentel, writes:

Punta Cana Art Gallery presents "Made in Puntacana", an exhibition reflecting the attention to detail and concentration skills of one of our most popular photographers, who has carved himself a name through sheer hard work, dedication and a singular passion for photography and art.

His social concern and his constant challenges to the intellectual conscience have been a distinguishing feature of his photographic career.

But more than anything, Pedro (Pedrito) Guzmán is a living, shining mirror of friendship, with a constant smile that has accompanied him in his successful travels all over the world and which now brings him the idyllic surroundings of Puntacana to share his latest works with us.

Enjoy this fresh offering of good art.

Thimo Pimentel December 2008

Size 32"x54" printed on canvas. Limited edition on sale (up to 9 originals).

A % of proceeds will benefit the PuntaCana Ecological Foundation.

For more information, contact pedroguzman@pedroguzman.com

Biographical Details:                                        

Pedro Guzmán was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in 1959. He started work as a photojournalist in 1976 at El Nacional de Ahora newspaper, and went on to work for most of the country’s other main newspapers.

His studies include Cinema at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (1981) the Reportage and Documentary photography course at the Altos de Chavon Design School, La Romana (1983), Cinema and photography at the Dominican Cinema Workshop (1985) and TV Production at the Cuban Institute of Radio and TV (1987-88). Seminar on the global impact of environmental problems: The New York Times Institute of the Environment and the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation, 2007. Risks and ethics in journalism, InterAmerican Press Society, 2007. Somos Foto workshop, sponsored by World Press Photo and the University of Miami, Santo Domingo, 2008.  

He is a founder member of the Dominican College of Journalists (CDP). In the 1980s he worked as a war correspondent in Central America for several international news agencies. He has since worked for several international development/aid agencies, including UNICEF, United Nations Population Fund, Oxfam GB, Helvetas and GTZ.

Pedro was the official campaign photographer for late PRD leader José Francisco Peña Gómez, accompanying him on his national and international trips between 1990 and 1998.

He has won several prizes, including Press Photographer of the Year (1983) shared with leading Dominican photojournalist Francis Arias, ‘El Gordo del Año’  (1985) for television stills photography, and journalism prize from the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (1986). He has also been honoured by the Dominican Press Photographers Association and by the Nicolás de Ovando Arts Centre, founded by Verónica Sención.

Away from the DR he received a mention in the Latin American Journalism prize and the 26th July National Journalism prize together with eminent Cuban journalist Roger Ricardo Luis, in Havana, Cuba, for a feature on child labour (1991).

He has served on the panel of judges of various photographic competitions and his work has illustrated books posters and catalogues for well-known writers and artists from the Dominican Republic and further afield.

Critical acclaim for Pedro’s work:

‘With a permanent frank and contagious smile, Pedrito Guzmán has developed his natural talent with a tireless dedication to work and study. He has travelled in several countries, with his restless, scrutinising lens in search of new paths.

The social concern of many of his photos is expressed with faultless technique and an artistic flair rarely found in our country”.

- Juan Bosch, Dominican writer and politician, national literature prize laureate.

“Pedro Guzman has a good eye, he knows how to appreciate the psychological qualities of a portrait, or to compose an image that can provide a valid testimony and make an impact. He is sensitive and has an instinctive reflex for the most edifying angle.”

- Marianne de Tolentino, art critic

The eye of the storm (1999)

“Pedro Guzman does not owe anyone an explanation. An artist should not have to do so. Every one should take a work of art as a message and a challenge to sensitivities, to conscience and the public’s intellectual level. Pedro Guzman has the ability, through his camera and art, to get right into the centre of things”.

- Juan Jose Ayuso, poet, writer and winner of the national journalism prize.