Tiburcio González Rojas: Photographic Avatars of Modern Paraguay

Abstract:Tiburcio González Rojas (birth date unknown) worked as a small-time jobbing photographer in the mid-twentieth century in the area around Ypacaraí, southeast of Asunción, where he specialized in ID photos. However, he soon turned his camera to the provincial life of the area, recording traditional events like the funeral rituals for infant deaths and folk music together with subjects that showed Paraguay, while under the draconian dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, experiencing the first signs of modernity: the arrival of electrification, the radio, modern youth gatherings, and women in stylish bathing suits. Lost for several decades, this is an intriguing archive of recovered photography that is part of the beginnings of contemporary photographic projects for Paraguay, a country whose photography remains essentially unknown.