At the invitation of curator Francisco Berzunza, South African photographer Pieter Hugo arrived in Mexico to work on a new exhibition. The project, originally titled Hacer Noche (‘Crossing Night’), was set to be a visual exploration of sex and death in the country.
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The commission quickly became an obsession for the artist. Between 2018-19, Hugo made four month-long trips to Mexico to create a collection of captivating portraits that combine mysticism, beauty, humour and horror. The result was La Cucaracha, an exhibition which is now on view at New York’s Yossi Milo Gallery.
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“I wanted the work to stay true to a Mexican aesthetic and make pictures that have an original and authentic voice,” Hugo says. Drawing upon the understanding that tragedy is a pervasive fact of life, Hugo embraces the anarchic and surreal sides of Mexican life.
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