January through May, on film
A selection of the photos I took while in Mexico, from January through the end of May at the beginning of this year.
I spent all of January in Mexico City, then stayed in Oaxaca for February and part of March, then went back to Mexico City right when the pandemic was beginning to spread there. Enrique and I quarantined ourselves in our apartment for nearly two months before deciding that the most important thing was to be closer to our families. So I went home to Olympia and he packed up and moved back to Oaxaca.
These photos show the last months of feeling safe around other people before the pandemic arrived–in the big city, with friends and family, and standing against injustice together.
Mexico City
Enrique in front of Cocodrilo by Leonora Carrington.
From our visit to the H.R. Giger exhibit in Mexico City,
Solo Con la Noche / Only in the Night
Xochimilco
This part of Mexico City was constructed around the ancient Mexica irrigation canals. Today, locals run boat tours through the canals in their famous decorated trajineras, or longboats pushed and navigated with a wooden pole. It's a popular weekend destination for local families from the city, as well as tourists from all over the world.
Boat vendors.
An imitation of the famous Isla de las Muñecas, Island of Dolls. As legend has it, a local man found a young girl who had drowned in the canals with her doll. He hung the doll in a tree nearby to honor the girl and then lost his mind, hanging dolls everywhere on the island. In this replica, owners of the property have also hung signs than read "TAKE CARE OF THE PLANTS" and "DON'T BE A PIG".
Oaxaca
Large wooded flower of the maguey plant, called a quiote.
A beautiful hike through the oak forest near Santa María el Tule.
Sunset flight of the pigeons.
International Women's Day
8 March 2020
This march was part of an international movement against violence against women, felt especially in the countries of Latin America where some of the highest rates of femicide and gender-based violence are found. This year especially, women in Mexico have demanded in unprecedented ways the end to violence against women, and for justice to be given to the families of the many, many victims.
#NiUnaMas (not one more)
#JuntasSomosTodas (together we are all)
Altar at the old city cemetery for the victims of gender violence in Oaxaca, where thousands of women gathered before marching through the streets.
Listening to speakers in the zócalo, the central park of the city, after the march.
Four government vehicles left along the path of the march were destroyed by some of the most radical protestors, in despair and rage for the government's indifference and lack of action to end the plague of violence against women. To this day, current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador continues to claim that "women are safer than ever in Mexico", which has been proven false by countless statistics.
Mexico City (quarantine)
From the rooftop of our apartment building, the only (safe) escape to the outside world and my only connection to nature, through the sun and the wind and the sound of the birds, normally entirely drowned out by the sounds of the ever-moving city. This became my favorite spot to be.
And then I flew home to Olympia.
Nikon F2
Ilford 400, Fujifilm 200/400
Developed, scanned & edited
July 2020