Oaxaca, Mexico 2015

This photo project is one of the very first explorations a young ambitious and curious 18 year old me endeavored on.

I decided to photograph the life of people living and working at a municipal dump in Mexico. I wanted to capture something a little out of the ordinary; to oppose a theme that most would be used to. The very first image shown was taken with black and white film, showing the superiority of hierarchy; dogs in their territory. The original aim was to use black and white film but after seeing the immense array of colour scattered across the plains, I opted to photograph in colour.

The people within these images worked at the dump, organising mounds of trash in the scorching hot sun in order to pay their way. Many would live in small make shift homes below the main hill so that they would be close by.

I found there was a very stark contrast between the natural landscape in the background and the man made mountain of garbage in the foreground. Beauty vs beast in it’s most raw form.