Oaxaca, Mexico

2008
I traveled to Oaxaca City and its surrounding villages, shooting on 35mm film. I took shared taxi journeys for 10 pesos, crammed in with families, babies on laps, heading to remote, towns unmarked by tourism. In Tlacolula, I visted the local market and a 16th-century cathedral with a massive pipe organ. I also saw craft villages where daily life felt deeply traditional. Mass protests started in 2006 in Oaxaca, and the government responded with force for 2 years, leaving a lasting tension in the region. The rural villages, even with the ornate colonial churches characteristic of the region, seem to resist change.