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Story March 26, 2015

Mexico: The Monster in the Mountains

Country:

Mexico

Author:

Matt Black
Grantee

English

On September 26, 2014, 43 Mexican students went missing in Iguala, a mountain town in the state of...

Matt Black
Grantee

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A street in the town of Cochoapa el Grande, Guerrero. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

Clouds drift down the mountains in El Chuparosa, Guerrero. “Something so pretty hides such horrible things,” a man said. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

Women at home in Cochoapa el Grande, Guerrero. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

A child sleeps on a corn sack. El Chuparosa, Guerrero. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

A farmer harvests corn on his hillside plot. El Chuparosa, Guerrero. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

An “auto-defensa” group in Apantla, Guerrero. “The only thing that we ask the government is that they leave us alone,” one member said. “If they cannot take control of security of our people, of our state, of our region, then leave it to us.” Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

A street in Moyotepec, Guerrero. Over a quarter of Guerrero’s population has migrated to the United States. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

A member of the Movement of the Families of the Disappeared rests by an open grave near Iguala, Guerrero. Hundreds of “disappeared” people are thought to be buried in clandestine graves in the hills above town. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

Vultures sun themselves near Ayutla de los Libres, Guerrero. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

A Day of the Dead procession in San Miguel Amoltepec, Guerrero. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

The cemetery in San Miguel Amoltepec, Guerrero, after a mudslide. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

A coffee farmer at home in San Marcos, Guerrero. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

A farmer and his wife in Tecuantepec, Guerrero, the home town of the missing student Abel García Hernández. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

A child’s handprints at a home in El Chuparosa, Guerrero. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

A Day of the Dead procession in San Miguel Amoltepec, Guerrero. Image by Matt Black. Mexico, 2014.

It's been six months since forty-three students from the Ayotzinapa Normal School went missing in the town of Iguala, in Guerrero, one of Mexico's poorest and most violent states. In the indigenous communities of La Montaña and the Costa Chica, where many of the students lived, the disappearances are only one example of the crime, corruption, and impunity that plague the region. As Abel Barrera Hernandez, a human-rights activist, said, "Here in the mountains . . . you live with the demons."

This short film, based on the work of the photographer Matt Black, shows how families of the missing are coping with the still unexplained loss of their loved ones, and how citizens are struggling to protect themselves, and to preserve hope.

Matt Black's photo essay and film were highlighted as one of "The 10 Best Photo Essays of the Month" on Time Magazine's Lightbox. The video was also featured on Channel 4 News, on July 21, 2015.