World Press Photo 2022

North and Central America Open Format

Mexico is the third-largest opium producer in the world, with half of the production being grown in its second-poorest state, Guerrero. The drug economy has transformed the social structure of the largely indigenous farming communities which have turned to poppy cultivation as a means of survival. The photographer put scratches and pinpricks into prints of the photographs to represent trauma and the scratching of the poppy flower during opium extraction, while the colour red represents drug violence and blood, but also life.

A Mixtec elder on the Cerro de la Garza in Guerrero, Mexico, on Dec 31, 2021. Every year, on Dec 31, Mixtecs climb the hill to perform rituals commemorating the end and beginning of a life cycle. Title: The Flower of Time: Guerrero’s Red Mountain © Yael Martínez, Magnum Photos
The Mixtec community celebrating a ritual that commemorates the end and beginning of a life cycle, at a sacred hill in Guerrero, Mexico, on Dec 31, 2021. These sacred hills are surrounded by poppy fields. An increasing amount of drug violence has led to communities arming themselves to defend their territories, with children also joining these efforts. Title: The Flower of Time: Guerrero’s Red Mountain © Yael Martínez, Magnum Photos
A man looking over a hill in Cochoapa el Grande, Guerrero, Mexico, on Feb 2, 2021. Cochoapa el Grande is both a major poppy producer and one of the poorest municipalities in Mexico. Title: The Flower of Time: Guerrero’s Red Mountain © Yael Martínez, Magnum Photos
An animal sacrifice in Cochoapa el Grande, Guerrero, Mexico, on Feb 9, 2021. Indigenous communities in Guerrero still perform pre-Hispanic ceremonies, in which blood and rain are seen as sacred. Title: The Flower of Time: Guerrero’s Red Mountain © Yael Martínez, Magnum Photos

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