Until the corn grows back

"Until the corn grows back" is a visual story about the roots of climate migration in Guatemala. In the indigenous communities of the highlands, the question is no longer if someone will leave, but when. Increasingly erratic climate patterns have produced year after year of failed harvests and dwindling work opportunities across the country, forcing thousands of people to try to escape skyrocketing levels of food insecurity and poverty. Over the last year, I worked with two Mayan families to create a record of daily life — their beliefs, hopes and struggles. I developed an intimate relationship with its people and I documented how malnutrition is not only widespread in Guatemala, which has the highest rates in Latin America, but has enormous consequences for individual and collective survival. Children suffering from malnutrition experience physical and cognitive constraints, which leads to perpetuating the cycle of poverty.