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NEWS

# THE IBERO MAGAZINE

I have studied the use of wild-animal species as emblems across many cultures around the world; this confirmed for me that big cats and eagles are the most admired—we have appropriated their attributes through a universe of brands, logos, coats of arms, and standards. In the Americas the jaguar is the most powerful symbol, and it is found only on this continent. Only the Asian tiger and the African lion exceed it in size.

Until recently, seeing a jaguar in the wild was extremely rare. For forty years I looked for the chance to photograph one, traveling through the jungles, mangroves, and rivers of Mexico, Central, and South America. In my dreams I always pictured it crossing a river. It was precisely in June 2010, in Brazil’s Mato Grosso, that I saw one for the first time.

There I devoted five months to documenting the intimate life of this great predator at the confluence of two large rivers, the Cuiabá and the Piquiri. My years of waiting to see and photograph a swimming jaguar finally came true one morning as we were heading upstream on the Piquiri. The boatman—or pilotero in Portuguese—spotted a male out of the corner of his eye amid the dense vegetation at the river’s edge. He immediately swung our small craft around and whispered, “La onça wants to cross.”

We waited on the opposite bank. The jaguar soon came down and slipped into the water. That limited its movements, allowing us to draw near. From that first instant I kept the shutter pressed until the camera would fire no more—it had to “digest” a flood of images born of the encounter’s excitement. Only a few seconds passed, yet later, when we found ourselves just meters from Panthera onça and the camera still refused to shoot again, the despair and helplessness were overwhelming. The last two frames were captured at very close range, just before the jaguar vanished upon reaching the far shore.

Fifteen years later, with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), I wanted to grasp the scope of this tool and the risks it poses to documentary and environmental photography. I asked one of the AI programs on my computer to recreate an image of a jaguar swimming at close range, in profile, moving from left to right—exactly as I had seen it. I wrote no more than one or two sentences to describe the picture I wanted the program to generate. Astonishingly, in less than ten seconds it offered me several alternatives. One of them is the image I present here, alongside the one I made in 2010.

I will not reveal which of the two is mine and which was created by A.I. My aim is to leave the reader in doubt—an uncertainty that may mirror the world we are heading toward, a choice we have made or accepted without truly realizing what we stand to lose.

We have been here before. When Photoshop arrived, the public began to doubt and question the truthfulness of photographs, especially when published images failed to clarify whether they had been digitally altered—whether they were authentic or, to use an even stronger word, “virgin.”

Four years after that trip I published a large-format art book featuring many of the images I captured during those five months: Las Onças Pintadas de Río Cuiabá (onças pintadas is Portuguese for “jaguar”). In it I recount the most memorable moments from my 180 sightings involving 40 different jaguars—one of the most treasured experiences of my life.

None of the photographs was manipulated; some appear in black and white because I felt that better conveyed the essence of the place and of the species. In my world, knowing the story behind each picture is as important as the image itself. If we fail to value photographs created directly in the natural world and instead focus on applauding those generated artificially, we will lose our way—we will cease to feel wonder when we look toward the horizon.

https://revistas.ibero.mx/ibero/

https://revistas.ibero.mx/ibero/uploads/volumenes/82/pdf/61.pdf

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# THE IBERO MAGAZINE

Art and Science, Environment, Wildlife and Biodiversity

In early 2025, PRG began collaborating with the IBERO Magazine of the Universidad Iberoamericana. With a special environmental section, where he presents an image and write a dissertation on a current topic.

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# SPOTLIGHT Art-Magazine

 

Patricio´s Extinction Rituals sculptures, featured in SPOTLIGHT Art Magazine

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# San Pedro Martyr Centinels

Would you adopt a 600-year-old tree?

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The adoption of a tree in San Pedro Martyr is done through a financial contribution, which ranges from five hundred to five thousand US dollars, depending on the size of the tree you want to adopt. The larger the size, the greater the contribution. You can also select the species you want, whether it is one of the three species of pine, fir or cedar. The trees that have been selected are mature specimens whose base thickness and height have been measured; they have been photographed individually; Its location and geographical position have been documented. The contribution for the adoption is made only once. The donor is asked to name the tree with an alias, or nickname, and is given a photograph of it. The conservation organization "Reforestamos México" issues the corresponding tax-deductible receipt with the donor's tax information. If you wish to commit to this effort by adopting a tree in this program, Sentinels of San Pedro Martyr, please send an email to contacto@reforestamos.org indicating your interest in doing so.

# Recent Patricio´s
Extinction Rituals work.

If you google the word snare, these wired devices that are use to capture wild animals, to feed the bushmeat market in Africa and Asia. Brutal photographs will be presented on your screen, of wounded lionesses, hippos, tigers, elephants, zebras, giraffes, leopards and many more large and small wild creatures, images that could crush your heart and deeply disturb your mind.

 

These two bronze sculptures, Hippo, snare series I, and Hippo, snare series II, speak about this heartless practice with one of Africa´s iconic mammals.

 

Male Lion, snare series. Using a real African snare, confiscated from poachers in the African bush, this bronze sculpture dramatizes the brutal assault to nature most emblematic mammal, the lion.

 

African Buffalo, Patricio´s recreated in this bronze sculpture, the agony of a wounded African Buffalo, using a real pair of horns of a large male.  He previously cut a set of iron plates and weld them for this piece.

 

3 Wolves. This elusive predator has always been a threat to our livestock, we have cursed, trapped, chase and killed them for millennia. We stake them high, to express our disgust, fear, and the notion of not being wanted in our world.

 

Nature´s Screm. The puma, mountain lion or cougar, is one of the largest cats in the American continent. A very secretive creature, and a powerful symbol of wild nature. This bronze sculpture with six puma skulls, is a wild cry for the loss of wild lands and with it, the spirit of a continent.

HIPOPOTAMO SNARE PATRICIO ROBLES GIL cop
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© Patricio Robles Gil 2025

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