Emmanuel
Guillén Lozano

Blackness

On December 11, 2006, former president Felipe Calderón declared the so-called war against drug cartels and it has continued under Enrique Peña Nieto's administration. According to official figures, more than 284,000 people have been executed and more than 32,000 have disappeared. By failing to carry out security tasks and being accused of constantly violating human rights, the Mexican government has been called failed State, the distrust of citizens has led to the creation of self-defense groups and even death squads formed by victims dedicated to seek for revenge against those who killed or disappeared their families, becoming into a new armed group.

This series of photographs goes from the northern tip of the country to the south coast, it tries to show the dark and blurred scenes that can be seen in these places, where sometimes one does not understand what is happening, where the death comes from and for who. Following armed groups of sicarios and sometimes those who are looking for them in strange territories with faceless people through constructions known as places of torture which blend with the landscape.