Gods of America – A Natural Pantheon by Antonio Briceño presents a visual homage to the surviving mythologies of twenty indigenous cultures across Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Venezuela. Created in collaboration with community elders and knowledge keepers, this two-decades-long series constructs a photographic pantheon of deities rooted in oral traditions.
Briceño frames his project as a counter-narrative to the dominant Western canon, where indigenous peoples are often represented through tropes of poverty or victimhood. By portraying them instead as dignified embodiments of mythic knowledge, he asserts their ongoing relevance and spiritual richness. Briceño investigates how mythological archetypes reflect relationships between humans and the natural world, and how beauty—often dismissed in contemporary art discourse—can be a vehicle for empathy. Each image is a constructed portrait that embodies a particular deity, drawn from indigenous cosmologies and interpreted through collaborative consultation with community members.
Visually, the series consists of digitally composited color photographs, blending portraits with landscape and symbolic elements. Carefully integrated features—such as mirrored figures to suggest spirits, or superimposed natural textures—help translate intangible beliefs into visible form. The tone throughout is reverent, deliberate, and grounded in a celebratory attention to cultural specificity.
Technically speaking, Briceño uses a digital camera and extensive post-production to construct his final prints, some of which span several meters. This method, likened by the artist to "painting with photos," allows him to create scenes that do not exist in reality but are conceptually faithful to the stories they tell.
First shown internationally at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007, the project later received the Green Leaf Award for Artistic Excellence from the Natural World Museum/UNEP (2008) and an AICA Award (2011). Though critically praised, it has also sparked debate for its unapologetic embrace of beauty and narrative symbolism.
