Pablo Ramos

Cinematographer

www.elpabloramos.com

La Muerte en México

Location: CDMX, Mexico

Biography: PABLO RAMOS, CINEMATOGRAPHER AND DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER. THROUGH FILMMAKING, HE IS INTERESTED ON SOCIAL JUSTICE AND PEOPLE WHO WORK FOR BUILDING A BETTER WORLD. He made the Journalism Degree at The journalism school Carlos Septien Garcia and the... MORE

In Mexico, we see death in a very peculiar way, it has a lot of meanings and multiple visions, since ancestral times it has played an important role in our culture. Death is celebrated, cried and respected, but it's also confronted and caricatured. The truth is that dying has many nuances in Mexico.
Ongoing project

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En México vemos a la muerte de una forma muy particular, tiene muchos significados y múltiples visiones, desde tiempos ancestrales ha jugado un papel importante en nuestra cultura. A la Muerte se le festeja, se le llora y se le respeta, pero también se le encara y se le caricaturiza. Lo cierto es que morir en México tiene muchos matices.
Proyecto en desarrollo.

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death...ical. Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. December 1, 2022. Juan Carlos is 47 years old; he has more than 30 years living as a “White Girl” devout and every first day of the month he goes to her altar located in Tepito, where he offers seven cigars to the Holy Death for cleaning with their smoke the images that people take to this sanctuary.

Holy Death devotion comes from a religious syncretism between prehispanic and European elements. Her first representations would be Mictlan masculine and feminine gods: Mictlantecutli and Mictacecihuatl, but people from Europe were the first to represent Death with the shape of a skeleton.

On the first day of each month, hundreds of believers arrive at the Holy Death altar in the violent neighborhood of Tepito. People go with multiple sizes and colors images to offer candles, flowers and candies and to pay promises for the received favors.

Paniecatacoyan “The place where people fly” is the 5th chapter of the transmedia project: “To die in Mexico”, that through a Mictlan (place of the dead) travel approaches different ways of seeing and coexisting with death in one of the most violent countries in the planet.

Fomapan Film 400 35mm / Developed with hand-made Mexican Marigold Flower chemical.

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. December 1, 2022. Alan is a Holy Death devout. He asked her for a favor and – as she is helping him – he arrives every month on his knees to her altar. It is common to watch people getting on their knees before arriving to the altar and making this journey with her image.

Fomapan Film 400 35mm / Developed with hand-made Mexican Marigold Flower chemical.

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. November 1, 2022. Holy Death Believers touch the scythe of an image in one of the improvised altars devouts place around Alfareria street. Every first day of the month, people who visit Holy Death altar leave candies, cigars, incense or even spill mezcal to others altars and images.

Film negative scratching / Kodak Tri-X Film 400 35mm / Developed with HC110

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. December 1, 2022. Fernando receives the support of his wife and daughter to finish his journey. He visits the first day of every month the Holy Death Altar with his family: “It was because of my daughters, because they were getting sick very often and I asked her to help me move forward and I promised her to come on my knees every month to thank her.”

Fomapan Film 400 35mm / Developed with hand-made Mexican Marigold Flower chemical.

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. December 1, 2022.
Fernando has been a Holy Death devout for more than six years. In 2022 he made a vow for her daughters and he promised to go to her altar every month for a whole year

Film negative scratching / Fomapan Film 400 35mm / Developed with hand-made Mexican Marigold Flower chemical.

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. November 1, 2022. A devout carries the Holy Death image during the rosary in honor of her anniversary.

Film negative scratching / Kodak Tri-X Film 400 35mm / Developed with HC110

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. December 1, 2022. Holy Death believers purify one of her images at her altar.

Film negative scratching / Fomapan Film 400 35mm / Developed with hand-made Mexican Marigold Flower chemical.

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. December 1, 2022. At the Goly Death Altar it is common to see young people offering cigars, tobacco cigarettes or weed joints in honor of their Saint. Their mission is to clean and purify with the smoke every image of the White Girl that passes in front of them.

Fomapan Film 400 35mm / Developed with hand-made Mexican Marigold Flower chemical.

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. December 1, 2022. A group of children purifies images around them, some of them with mezcal and others with vapers. People give them candies in exchange.

Fomapan Film 400 35mm / Developed with hand-made Mexican Marigold Flower chemical.

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. December 1, 2022. A woman stops a young man who arrives at the altar to take his image and reverence her with respect.

Film negative scratching / Fomapan Film 400 35mm / Developed with hand-made Mexican Marigold Flower chemical.

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. December 1, 2022. People purifying images at the White Girl Altar in Tepito.
Fomapan Film 400 35mm / Developed with hand-made Mexican Marigold Flower chemical.

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. November 1, 2022. The White Girl devouts gather at her altar in Tepito.

Kodak Tri-X Film 400 35mm / Developed with HC110

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. December 1, 2022. People get together at the Holy Death altar. They say that for having a miracle, you need to have three images: one you bought, one someone gave you and a third one you have stolen. If you have that triad, everything you ask for will be conceded.
Fomapan Film 400 35mm / Developed with hand-made Mexican Marigold Flower chemical.

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. November 1, 2022. A devout carries a White Girl image. Believers think that if they ask something from the Holy Death and fail, they can have terrible consequences, and that to promise her something without accomplishing it will bring her revenge. That’s why devouts fulfill every promise and visit her on the first day of each month.

Film negative scratching / Kodak Tri-X Film 400 35mm / Developed with HC110

Photography: Pablo Ramos

Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death Altar, located in Alfareria 12, Tepito. January 1, 2023. Holy Death’s devouts at Tepito. Relation between Mexican people and death relates to devotion and the White Girl has hundreds of altars and thousands of believers around the country. There are no exact numbers or statistics about this faith because it is not considered an official religion in Mexico.

Fomapan Film 400 35mm / Developed with hand-made Mexican Marigold Flower chemical.

Photography: Pablo Ramos

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Thumbnail of Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death_;nbsp; Photography: Pablo Ramos

Thumbnail of Mexico City, Mexico. Holy Death_ HC110 Photography: Pablo Ramos

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La Muerte en México

Updated Apr 2023

Location CDMX

Topics personal [featured]

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