LIFE IS SHORT (IN MEXICO)

In 2010, I used to live in Monterrey, Mexico. We received the last day of that year with a woman hanging from a bridge of "Gonzalitos", one of the busiest avenues in the city. What was practically "a great city to live in" suddenly became a war zone. Violence had unleashed during the previous months. Gunshots and grenades were the least of the concerns, heads and pieces of bodies were left on the street as threats between gangs, incinerated bodies were found in pits daily. I started wondering what tools someone actually need to remove a head from a body or to make a body into pieces or ashes. Imagining the murderers at work made me sick, and just looking at the “tools” made me afraid. I went to a well known park with these "tools" and asked passers by to pick one of them and pose for me. Although they studied the tools in order to choose one, they were definitely not afraid of them, they still gracefully posed, smiled, chatted and said cheese!. 

We left Mexico before the next Christmas.

I edited these pictures to show the color that would be more prominent while using the tool, gasoline and lighter would create an "orange fire", a saw and a "machete" would show a "blood red". The white line recalls the one that is usually drawn around a dead body in a crime scene.

Prints of this series are not available for sale. These works are available for exhibition or licensing for editorial use. Please contact Ileana for inquires about licensing, email ile at ileanadobleh dot com, or use the Contact Form.