Cost del Este

Costa del Este (East Coast) is a group of photographs made between 2005-2008.  The pictures are of mothers, children and their nannies, within newly developed exurbia in Panama City and Guatemala City.  Costa del Este in 2006, was a new development only a mile away from the original Panama City. It was hard to access without a vehicle and created a segregated, gated environment for its inhabitants. I was struck by Costa del Este’s similarities to what I had been experiencing and photographing in parts of New Jersey and other communities in the Eastern part of the US in the early 2000’s. I was fascinated in the overlapping phenomenon of these environments and the shared aspiration of isolation and perceptions around the pursuit of safety. Ultimately Costa del Este followed a US blueprint of self segregation., but differently, the care of the children was shouldered by the nannies - mirroring Panama’s colonial history..