San Simon, an enigmatic entity known as Monchito, El Abuelo, Tatita (sweet father), Maximon, or “the one who existed before the wind”, assumes a profound presence in Maya mythology and contemporary folk expressions. Revered in myriad forms across the Guatemalan Highlands, his narrative weaves into the intricate fabric of age-old Maya traditions. In the era of the Spanish Conquest, Christianity emerged as a coercive force for Indigenous compliance in the New World. Despite efforts to impose monotheistic beliefs, the resilient Indigenous communities clandestinely sustained worship of their ancestral deities, even as pagan idols fell and temples crumbled. Co-existing with Christian figures, their gods persisted in secrecy. 

San Simon, uniquely sanctioned by Spanish priests, took on a Western guise for worship, complete with a beard and conventional attire. Indigenous communities gained the liberty to revere him, albeit within the constraints of saintly representation. Spanning the entire Mayan Highlands, San Simon's influence endures among contemporary Guatemalan ethnicities. Despite denial from Catholic society, a stark reality persists — citizens, both regular and influential, contribute wealth to this ancient figure. However, the cult grapples with increasing stigma amid the ascendance of the evangelical Christian movement.

Artist Bio: 

Juan Brenner (b.1977, Guatemala) is a self-taught photographer, living and working in Guatemala City. After working in New York as a fashion photographer for over a decade, Brenner returned to his native Guatemala where he began making work about the people and complex territory in the country’s Western Highlands. Brenner uses photography to reflect on the fluidity and abstract nature of identity and territory, his images capture the complexities of cultural hybridization and, more poignantly, the way power, hierarchical structures and inequality are instrumentally continued through time. Brenner’s first monograph, Tonatiuh, was shortlisted for the 2019 Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation First PhotoBook Award. For the same project, he was a winner of LensCulture’s 2019 Emerging Talent Award. His works have been featured in publications including Aperture, British Journal of Photography, Le Monde, VICE, C-41, Aint Bad, Fisheye, Booooooom, California Sunday Magazine, Paper Journal, Collector Daily, I-D Magazine, Dazed and Confused, Pardo, Loupe, Palm Studios, Metal Magazine, Musee, JOIA and Balam Magazine. He is a founding member of Proyectos Ultravioleta in Guatemala City.