. William Frej. Santa Fe: Peyton Wright Gallery, 2020, 240 pages. $60.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-578-63921-5.
This beautifully produced volume of photography draws inspiration from the documentation of ancient Maya sites by explorer Teobert Maler (1842–1917) and adds a contemporary view on often remote locations and their testament to pre-Columbian Maya heritage. William Frej, who first traveled to Yucatán, Mexico, in the 1970s, has returned to the region following a career with USAID, renewing his passion for Maya architecture and his "search for the forgotten or unknown." His photography and writing convey a deep appreciation for the heritage of Indigenous peoples who struggle for opportunity. Frej has assembled images taken during travels from 2013 to 2020 at sites documented by Maler throughout the Maya Lowlands, across the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras.
The volume intermingles Frej's visual impressions of these sites, captured through digital photography and reproduced in dramatic black-and-white images, with archival photographs taken a century earlier by Maler at a time when archaeology was a young discipline and photography of ancient ruins captivated the public's imagination. Frey provides an introduction and the photographer's perspective on the work presented in the volume, and the architecture and cultural history of the Maya are briefly summarized by noted scholars. The preface by Tomás Gallareta Negrón and essay by Jeremy A. Sabloff provide the cultural context for Frej's images, which situate the viewer among the standing remains of architecture built by the Maya during the Classic and Postclassic periods (ca. 250–1500 CE). Insightful essays on the life of Teobert Maler by Alma Durán-Merk and Stephan Merk and on the broader significance of Maler's work by Khristaan D. Villela underscore his pivotal contributions to research in the twentieth century and of continuing value today. Maler's photographs, preserved as historical prints and original glass plate negatives, are held in archives along with his field research papers at Harvard's Peabody Museum, the Ibero-American Institute in Berlin, as well as smaller collections at the universities of New Mexico, Texas, and Brigham Young; the Getty Museum in Los Angeles; and INAH in Mérida, Mexico.
Comparisons in this volume between a selection of Maler's photographs and similar views captured by Frej highlight many forces of change affecting these Maya settlements and their impressive buildings. Many of the prominent sites have been the focus of extensive archaeological research and development for tourism, which has often resulted in partial restoration of architectural ruins. The impression of these protected sites conveyed through Frej's photographs is uplifting, considering the many sites which survive, but for other examples the sentiment is dismaying given the deteriorated stonework and plaster ornamentation at neglected sites. Natural weathering, unchecked forest encroachment, and human actions have significantly affected many of the structures shown in these photographs. As noted in the essays, sites encountered by Maler in the early twentieth century were the focus of intense clearing of forest cover, which had rebounded after settlements were abandoned in the centuries before the arrival of Europeans. While the initial photo documentation of these impressive masonry structures was a significant driver of public fascination with the ancient civilization of the region, the long-term impacts of these early expeditions on architectural preservation has been an unintended, complicating legacy for Maya scholars and heritage site managers.
Although the advancements in site documentation through photogrammetry, remote sensing, and lidar technology have provided a wealth of architectural and settlement data for contemporary scholars, the fine details shown in Frej's photographic study are a reminder of why Maya architectural designs still captivate the imagination. Intricate masonry façades, incorporating natural and supernatural figures, remind us of the rich artistic traditions in wood, textiles, and other organic media now mostly lost. How this engrossing portfolio adds to the documentation of these sites may be for some a point of discussion, yet that would miss an important contribution of this book: the inspiration this architecture and Frej's captivating images provide to those unfamiliar with the history of the Maya people. That this book will motivate readers to explore this legacy—including the archival resources on which this work builds—and support the preservation of Maya sites is of incalculable benefit and perhaps where its future contribution is greatest.
By Loa Traxler
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