The Burden of Time: Photographs from the Highlands of Chiapas

This book reproduces some 75 extraordinary photographs by Marcey Jacobson of the indigenous Maya and non-indigenous Ladino peoples of San Cristobal de las Casas in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Largely taken during the 1960s and 1970s, these stunning and historically revealing photographs depict the daily life and celebrations of the local population—selling goods in street markets, participating in religious rituals, begging in town squares, and a myriad of other activities. They offer a sensitive, respectful, and honest portrait of a region increasingly under pressure from the disruptive forces of modernization and political change.

The metaphor of the burden of time is especially apt for this region of Mexico. Mayas have since the Classic era conceived of time as a cargo , as a burden to be carried on the backs of those who serve their communities, in a ritual that sustains the precarious harmony of human beings and deities living in a dangerous world. Even today’s cargo system conceptualizes civil and ceremonial service as a tremendous burden akin to that which young and old alike must undertake for survival. Jacobson’s photographs tack back and forth through people’s lives to explore the encumbrances and joys of the passage of time. The entire text of the book, including photo captions, appears in both English and Spanish.