About the Authors
This website – as is also the preceding book that began our adventure into Maya art – is the product of our combined efforts and determination not to give up. What you see is the result of ten years of hard work, paved with beautiful experiences that have bred a fascination with Maya culture that is shared also by our children.
Jenny was born and raised in Switzerland – where her meticulous work ethic was set – along with where the seed of her deep interest in the visual arts was sown.
Educated at the Kantonalschule in Aarau, the same high school Albert Einstein attended, she continued to study Fine Art at Goldsmiths College London in the late 90s, before changing her focus to the field of Art History (1st Class Honours). Her special interest in Central American Art (and particularly the Ancient Maya) developed when studying for her Masters (Distinction) at Essex University under the late Doctor Tim Laughton, who taught her that in Maya art the devil lay in the detail, meaning that all symbols and markings carried meaning in Maya art. She completed her PhD at UCL under the guidance of Elizabeth Graham, Professor of Mesoamerican studies. She is an accomplished photographer, iconographer and perhaps simply best described as a Mayanist.
Alex originally hails from South Wales in the UK. He trained as a medical doctor at the Royal Free Hospital in London (UCL), where he also took a special interest in science and mathematics; and met Jenny. Alex is also an artist with a longstanding fascination with Anthropology.
Together, that is by combining their different perspectives and strengths, Jenny and Alex have been able to cross the boundaries of established disciplinary fields of art, art history, anthropology, archaeology, science, mathematics and physics and deliver a fresh narrative to Maya studies.
After meeting in London, Jenny and Alex moved to a number of isolated islands off Australia: King Island and Flinders Island in the Bass Straight, located between Tasmania and Melbourne; and Norfolk Island in the South Pacific. In these beautiful, remote locations, where they were freed from the busy demands of modern life, their unique mix was able to ‘think outside the box’. In fact, The Maya Gods of Time was completed while living on Norfolk Island, which carries special symbolic importance to the couple as it is a three-stone (island) place.
To see and research Maya art, the couple have travelled extensively across Mesoamerica with their three daughters, Olivia, Davia and Heidi. At the many Maya sites they visited they would play games to see who could spot new animations. Wonderfully, the girls absorbed the artwork they saw, even adopting its philosophy into their lives.
The family have now moved back to Flinders Island, where they are enjoying the stunning beauty and tranquil isolation of this beautiful island.
