Mexico

The Presence of Animals in Peoples Lives in Rural Mexico

I lived in the western Sierra Madre Mountains in Huicholes and Mexican communities while accompanying my husband on his Fulbright Fellowship in 1992. The Huicholes are an indigenous people located in remote mountainous areas. Access is limited and there is a well-deserved distrust of outsiders. I was permitted to photograph in several communities after I made my intentions clear by showing my previous photography projects of dogs and primates.

I am an obvious photographer; I work to develop a rapport with my subjects, visiting again and again. I was invited to live with a family in the Mexican village of Tenzampa, down the mountain from the Santa Catarina Huicholes, where my husband stayed.

People’s universal interest in animals has opened many doors for me.