Gabriel the killer
Alba Gutiérrez González
It’s way too easy to fall into the trap of dichotomy, to label somebody as good or evil.
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However, if you feel uncomfortable tiptoeing around the shallows of a situation, as I did, you may allow yourself to embark on the hazardous labour of listening, of understanding and maybe, eventually, of empathising.
Unconcealed menace and organised crime: in Mexico, they lead to a delusional way of understanding one’s life chances. Young people find themselves searching for a good life holding on to guns, knives and machetes. While their mothers hold, in silence, the hope that, also tonight, their children will come back home alive.
Es demasiado fácil caer en la trampa de la dicotomía, en lo que respecta a etiquetar a alguien, como enteramente benévolo o completamente malvado.
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Sin embargo, si uno se siente incómodo caminando con cautela por la superficie de una situación, como me ocurrió a mí, puede permitirse emprender la ardua y arriesgada tarea de escuchar, comprender y, tal vez, eventualmente, empatizar.
En México, las amenazas evidentes y el crimen organizado han moldeado la forma en que muchos comprenden las oportunidades de vida. Para muchos jóvenes, no parece haber otra salida que buscar una vida digna empuñando armas, cuchillos o machetes, mientras sus madres sostienen en silencio la esperanza de que, también esta noche, regresen a casa con vida.
Alba is a student of Social and Cultural Anthropology in Granada and a Spanish Sign Language interpreter. She is passionate about social photography, and any visual resource that allows the exploration of human complexities. Her journey lies at the intersection of anthropological research and artistic practice, with a particular interest in contexts of conflict, death, resistance and resilience.
Meet the author: Alba Gutiérrez González
an interview conducted by Otherwise graphic editor Letizia ​Bonanno
