“Our Culture is Our Resistance: Repression, Refuge and Healing in Guatemala,” an exhibition of compelling photographs by Jonathan Moller, will be exhibited at DePaul University’s Center for Latino Research, in the Schmitt Academic Center, 2320 N. Kenmore Ave., Suite 5 A-H, Feb. 17 through April 10.

The exhibition sheds light on the struggle of the Mayan indigenous people who were uprooted during Guatemala’s protracted civil war. Thematically, the images document recent tragic events in Guatemala – the repression and genocide that was carried out by state security forces in the early 1980s. “The beauty and strength of the photographs, and the accompanying text, draws viewers into understanding the humanity and dignity of these people,” said Félix Masud-Piloto, director of the center. “These are stories of life and death, hope and despair, and struggles for survival, respect and truth.”

More than 20 black and white images complete the exhibition, which includes excerpts from Moller’s upcoming book by the same title, to be published in the fall of 2004 by Powerhouse Books.

Winner of the 2001 Henry Dunant Prize for Excellence in Journalism, Moller has exhibited widely through the United States, Mexico and Europe. He spent seven years in Nicaragua with a group of exiled Salvadorans, and he currently lives in Guatemala, where he has worked with a human rights organization supporting populations uprooted by the civil war, and as a photographer for a Guatemalan forensic anthropology team that exhumed remains from clandestine cemeteries.

A native of Cambridge, Mass., Moller studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Tufts University.

A reception with the photographer will be held March 2, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., in the center. The reception and the exhibition are free and open to the public.

The exhibition is sponsored by a consortium of Latin-centered programs and organization at DePaul, known as “Celebración de Nuestra América.” For more information about the Center for Latino Research and “Our Culture is Our Resistance: Repression, Refuge and Healing in Guatemala,” call 773/325-7316 or visit the center’s Web site at: clr@depaul.edu .