In this, the final image of this gallery, I speak of the history of
Bolivia itself. This indigenous woman, who changes money on the streets of La Paz, wears a traditional costume. It includes a bowler hat, worn by Bolivia’s Quecha and Aymara peoples since the 1920s, when British railway workers first introduced them to the country. She also wears the proud profile of the Inca Empire – an amalgamation of languages, cultures and peoples once holding great wealth and power. Her ancestors built a great civilization here long before the Spanish came to conquer South America, bearing the cross in one hand and the sword in the other. The Spanish conquistadors pillaged South America for its gold and silver, and by choosing a present day Bolivian money-changer as my subject, I create an interpretive image that merges past with present. It is an ironic scene that will always linger in my memory.