From the neighbourhood to the desert

Based on the ceremonies inspired by the Wixárika (or Huichol) culture, centred on the consumption of peyote (a cactus with hallucinogenic properties) and performed in the desert by young people and adults associated with the bands of San Luis Potosí, this research examines the spiritual and healing practices of this population. How are these rituals, described as ancestral, appropriated and interpreted? What continuities and ruptures emerge between spaces as apparently far apart as the desert and urban neighbourhoods? In a context marked by inequality and violence, how do these explorations contribute to the production of new subjectivities?

Using a field survey combining photography and ethnography, this project aims to provide a more complex view of young people, who are often perceived as marginalised and delinquent. The collective production of a book and a travelling exhibition involving the people who took part in these ceremonies will reflect this exchange of views and allow us to reflect on the issues surrounding the representation of this group.

Coordinator

Irène Pochetti, Senior Lecturer at UPEC-Lirias

Project team

• Maya Collombon, Director of the (CEMCA)
• Jean-Félix Fayolle, Photographer (Zeppelin Agency)
• Paola Garnica, Post-doctoral researcher (CONACYT Colegio de San Luis AC COLSAN)
• Carmen Cebreros Urzaiz, Exhibition curator, independent arts researcher, teacher (Universidad Anahuac Mexico)
• Guillermo Vargas Quisoboni, Visual anthropologist and interaction designer, director of Chakalaka medialab