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PHOTOGRAPHY: ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKAS

TOUGH WORLD

Tradition, drug addiction and religious faith – over a period of two years and armed only with an R6 and an M9, the Brazilian photographer returned time and again to Tepito, a district of Mexico City filled with life and violence. Insights into a hard to access no-go-area.

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“Diableros”, “Devil workers” transport merchandise through Tepito on foot (above, and right middle); the police are happy to be bribed; murder in front of the

bar called “Sal si puedes”, “Get out if you can”

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X-ray photos are used as kindergarten decorations for the Santa Muerte festivities (above); in addition to worshipping Santa Muerte, Saint Francis is also honoured in a Halloween-like manner

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Tepito celebrates Saint Francis, the Catholic patron saint of the district, with a funfair on October 4 each year.

Many people make themselves up as “La Catrina”, the Mexicon symbol for the day of the dead

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Mexico City is like a labyrinth, as can been seen in this aerial photo (left, middle); tabletop football is also an obligatory part of Mexican life; Roberto Vega Guerrero, 80, proud to be a Tepiteño (below left)

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The worship of the sacred figure of Santa Muerte, uniting Christian saintliness with black magic, has

many forms of expression: dolls, figurines and tattoos, that most people enjoy showing off

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PORTFOLIOADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKAS

In addition to the life-defining presence of Santa Muerte in Tepito, children have now also

begun to idolize their mobile phones

The Brazilian photographer Adriana Zehbrauskas originally wanted to be a journalist. Attending journalism school in São Paolo and then linguistic studies in Paris soon revealed that her preferred form of expression was the image, not the written word. Born in 1968, Zeh-brauskas – of Lithuanian and Lebanese descent – moved to Mexico city a few years ago. From there, she works as a free-lance photographer for the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, Le Figaro and the New York Times, among others.

Of all the districts in Zehbrauskas’s new home-town, Tepito is the one that most fascinates her. The name comes from the Aztec word “teocali-tepiton”, mea-ning something like “chapel”. Despite its name, it is known to have one of the high-est criminality rates in Mexico City. For two years, Zehbrauskas returned there time and again, working with an M9 with Summicron-M 35 mm f/2 Asph and an R6 with Summicron-R 35 mm f/2 – the photo-grapher and the equipment sur-vived the long-term project unscathed.

LFI: How does one take pictures with soul? Adriana Zehbrauskas: Music. My images always have a soundtrack, even if it’s just in my mind.LFI: And what’s going on in Tepito? Adriana Zehbrauskas: Tepito was at the top of my list, since I moved to Mexico City from São Paulo. It was always refer-red to as the no-go place par excellence, the ultimate dangerous place in Mexico City. I was curious about it. Was it real-ly that dangerous? Why? What’s going

there? Who lives there? These questions were in my mind and I kept thinking that I had to go there and see for myself.LFI: It’s not only drugs and violence, but also local traditions that are an important element of your series. Where do you find the metaphors and symbols? Adriana Zehbrauskas: Everywhere. Life there happens in the open, in the middle of the street. Everything from drug dealing, drug taking, religious devotion, commerce, friendship, family life. The name of the bar in Tepito where a lot of this goes on is called “Sal si puedes”, which means something like “get out if you can”.LFI: It almost sounds like a motto for the lives of the people there. How were you able to get around without anything happening to you? Adriana Zehbrauskas: I am obviously dif-ferent to the people living there, and they are very suspicious. I met a family who lives and works there, and they were my gateway to the community. In Tepito you can’t simply walk in by yourself. The on-ly two times I ventured in by myself I was mugged: once at gunpoint. Other places I asked to be taken to. Sometimes I was really scared, I often felt uncomfortable.LFI: With so much violence and scepti-cism, how were you able to take photos? Adriana Zehbrauskas: You have to be ve-ry careful and ask the people. I’m very shy, so it’s not easy for me to get close to people. But when I have a camera it’s different. It’s almost as if I’m someone else then.LFI: Weren’t you afraid for your equip-ment? Adriana Zehbrauskas: People like to go for fancy, shiny cameras, whereas the Leica to them looks like an out-of-style gadget.

LFI: How did people react when you appeared? Adriana Zehbrauskas: Mexicans don’t like having pictures taken. They’re suspi-cious, and they don’t want others to take advantage of them. So it’s really not easy.LFI: So how did you manage anyway?Adriana Zehbrauskas: I talked to the people first. They all have stories about being in jail, husbands in recovery, vio-lence, drugs, alcohol, murder, robbery. Sniffing glue or smoking pot is normal there. I promised I’d never publish their photos in a local newspaper.LFI: Apart from the criminality and vio-lence, were there other aspects of Tepito that caught your attention? Adriana Zehbrauskas: Tepiteños are very proud. And St. Francis, along with Santa Muerte, are their patron saints. On the first day of every month they celebrate Santa Muerte. It’s not recognized by the catholic church – it’s a cult, mixed with Catholic traditions. Everybody is in the streets, they bring their own Santa Muerte figurines which they dress up individually and then they’re celebrating the dead. It’s a joyful street party. LFI: In your pictures, you not only cap-ture sadness, but also liveliness and reli-gion as a place of refuge for the people. Is faith still a theme for you?Adriana Zehbrauskas: Yes. Right now I’m focused on a project about the Brazilian migration to Japan. I’m also working on a book featuring my long-term Faith pro-ject, and a children’s photo book.INTERVIEW: CARLA SUSANNE ERDMANN

E-Book: “Tepito, el barrio” by Adriana Zehbraus-kas (Colección Cristal de luz, México, 2012), available at the Apple iTunes store More information: www.azpix.com.br