Forbidden Americas

The first set is a selection of pictures from my photo book on the legacy of 500 years of colonialism in the Americas, The Forbidden Rainbow. The text, comprising an inspiring collection of essays and poems by leading Latin American writers, with an introduction by Eduardo Galeano, was edited by Amanda Hopkinson. It was published by Serpent's Tail and first exhibited at the Photographers' Gallery in London.

It documents societies from the old and new worlds of Latin America focusing on the tensions created by the continent's economic and social imbalance. It highlights the plight of the homeless youth, the tremendous growth of the informal economy and surveys the political cycles and the patterns of migration from native ancestral lands to the edge of the cities, followed by a section on African-American religions. The book is available through Amazon.com

Watch the slideshow in

I have also been covering the social and cultural life of the expatriate Latin American community in the UK for many years, and below is a selection edited for an exhibition I had at the City Hall in London.