CORY ZIMMERMAN | Documentary Photographer
LONG FORM PROJECTS
Poems I Brought Down from the Mountain
The Maya of the Guatemalan Highlands
I'm drawn to these places where the world is still real, where I can feel the past and the connection between things and the course of events that led to this point, where I can look back and see the journey I've traveled, a path that can't be quickly paved over with denial or disillusionment.
Upon arriving at the last home in the mountaintop village, I exchanged glances of gratitude with an entire family living in little more than a cattle shed. Despite enduring genocide, displacement, and unimaginable discrimination, resilience thrives upon dirt floors. The Maya of the Guatemalan Highlands communicate through the eyes, revealing unspoken truths hidden within.
After taking a dozen or so portraits, we gather by the crackling horno, sharing a stack of hand-slapped tortillas and a dozen hard-boiled eggs. I yearn to immerse myself in such simplicity, yet I know I must leave the warmth and step outside into the haze, feeling the weight of an ancient legacy bearing down upon me.
Descending the mountain, a puma’s kill perched in a lone cacao tree. I hear a rustle and turn back to see a girl with gleaming gold teeth, within a broad smile, step out of the corn stalk. She seems to yearn to be seen, as if disappearing from sight would be akin to death. Raising my camera, I worry her weary eyes might be seen through a lens of pity as she waves me goodbye, a fading silhouette against a backdrop of mist, a dream as clear as day.
Between a Sword & a Wall
A Portrait of the Migrant Caravan
"My wish is to be in the U.S. to get Johnathan the treatment he needs; that is my dream,” Argentina once wrote me in a message. “My brother died from untreated anemia, and it hurt me a lot because he had so many dreams. I was with him all the time in the hospital, and now I am doing the same with my son. I don't want Johnathan to go through the same suffering. It worries me because he has gotten sicker and sicker. Last year, he was in a coma for a month. I want so badly to have control over his mealtimes, but when I go in search of food, there is often nothing. It has not been easy on Johnathan, and that scares me to death. I wish I could have a place of my own and to be calm. I wish we could be on the other side already. There are moments when I feel worried and desperate... in the name of Jesus, I pray that this ends soon. It has not been easy. The roads we have walked down, we have suffered. I have seen women badly beaten on the street and left behind to their fate. Then, with Johnathan's health scares, we've had so many horrible experiences along the way. It’s been rough, to be neither here nor there. Back in Honduras, I suffered domestic violence, and my two eldest daughters were sexually abused, and I don't want my two little girls to go through the same nightmare. I want a future for my children. They all three love football, and Johnathan loves to play the drums. You see, my children have dreams of their own, and I wish to get to a place where they can develop those dreams, those dreams of their own, and to be someone in the future. I want to work and put my kids in school where they can learn many things. I would like them to learn to paint. I think they would like that very much. That is my dream, and I pray God will give me the wisdom to show me the way to the other side. But now, I do not know where to turn, where to search for refuge. In a simple truth... I am between a sword and a wall.”
ESSAYS
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
The Contemporary Art Center of Peoria
Select Publications
FOTO BOOKS
Bio
CORY ZIMMERMAN: Documentary Photographer
Cory Zimmerman is an American documentary photographer based in Mexico City, where he has worked for nearly a decade. He mainly focuses on humanitarian, social, and cultural issues, such as migration, human rights, poverty, and fringe communities. Using black and white photography, he aims to capture the poetic essence of life. Zimmerman’s work seeks to foster human connection and empathy while highlighting injustices and diverse ways of life.
Zimmerman studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and various other art schools and universities, focusing on photography, filmmaking, fine arts, and creative writing, which enriched his artistic vision and technical skills. His work has taken him around the world, capturing powerful stories from Central American migrant caravans to Maya communities in Guatemala, the slums of India, Southeast Asia, and South America, as well as the back streets of America’s inner cities and its fringe cultures. Each photo project reflects his commitment to highlighting the resilience of the human spirit amidst adversity.
He believes that the grain of a photograph parallels the grit that settles in the cracks of society, embodying the grime of life that binds us all as one interconnected being. “Compassion is my religion,” Zimmerman asserts, emphasizing that while empathy is the foundation of civilization, conscious awareness—the ability to see clearly—truly fosters the realization that when one suffers, all suffer. For Zimmerman, the camera is an unmatched tool for building a just world and a powerful weapon to be used mercifully against injustice.
Through his lens, Zimmerman continues to promote a deeper understanding of our shared humanity. Motivated by the belief that “with exposure comes understanding and with understanding comes appreciation,” Zimmerman encourages viewers to explore stories from the farthest reaches of civilization and to be willing to walk the long path that unites us all.
Cory Zimmerman has finished two new photo books that showcase his experiences with the migrant caravans and the Maya of the Guatemalan Highlands. These books will be part of the upcoming exhibit of his recent work at the Contemporary Art Center of Peoria. He also studies Spanish at UNAM in Mexico City, where he lives with his Cuban canary, Clyde.