Brenner’s relationship with his home country has always been complicated. He was born at a time of great conflict when rebel groups challenged the Guatemalan government in what became a 36-year civil war. His father, a respected doctor, was hired to help the army, making him an enemy of the guerilla groups. “People were disappearing every day,“ Brenner recalls. “Bombs were going off on buses and in crowded places. It was hardcore. You couldn’t travel anywhere. You were forced to live in a bubble.“ In 1976, the war was compounded by a devastating earthquake north-east of Guatemala City, which destroyed most of the country’s infrastructure and killed more than 23,000 people.
Brenner was 18 when the war ended. After years of living a life interrupted by conflict, he bought a one-way ticket to New York. His ambition was to get into fashion and design the life he had always dreamed of. “When I got to New York, I didn’t want people to know where I was from. I was trying to escape from my Guatemala-ness. It was the first time I was exposed to culture, art and the internet. The way I dressed changed, and the music I listened to changed. Fashion became a way for me to blend in.“
However, Brenner slowly burned out. In 2008, he went to rehab and then, in 2010, returned to Guatemala City. “I chose life,“ he tells me. “I chose recovery. I chose not to do cocaine and leave all that behind. I felt like such a failure, but I knew if I stayed, I would kill myself.“ After rehab, Brenner, who is now 14 years sober, started a design studio with his partner Amanda. The business took off, and clients around the continent sought them out for their unique approach to branding. One of their jobs required a trip to Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, where Brenner spent time in the Andes for the first time. He was astounded by the scale and scope of what he affectionately calls “indigenous power“.
“I thought, this is Guatemala in 30 years,“ he says. “Guatemala’s timeline is different to the rest of Latin America. When you have war, everything stops. There is no development or experimentation. Nothing good comes from war. I realised I had to return to photography and create a project about Guatemala’s indigenous power. I started investigating, researching and talking to people. I spoke with an Ecuadorian anthropologist who destroyed my idea, making me realise I wasn’t ready to make the work. I didn’t know how to tell the story yet.“