HECHO EN BARRIO is a long-term photographic work begun in 2007 by Jean-Félix Fayolle on the youth of Mexico's working class neighborhoods, mainly in the city of San Luis Potosí, capital of the state of the same name. This agglomeration of 2 million inhabitants is located in the center-north
of the country, 400 kilometers north of Mexico City. Jean-Félix Fayolle is a student in international commerce and foreign languages. He spent a year in San Luis Potosí as an exchange student
in 2006-2007 to complete his degree. Somewhat by chance, he moved to the working-class neighborhood of Pavón, on the outskirts of the Potosina capital, preferring this atmosphere to the aseptic one of the posh neighborhoods behind their high walls and barbed wire. He began to meet gangs, to befriend them and to photograph them, then alternated stays in France and Mexico to continue his work. Over time, he witnessed the explosion of violence and insecurity linked to drug trafficking, as well as the ravages of drugs, particularly crystal meth, on these fragile lives.
This subject of this forgotten youth is thus the reason for why he decided to trade his economist's hat for that of a photo reporter. "But how to show these images, what images and why? What do I want to tell? Positive things, negative things, both?" Avoid clichés and above all respect the people photographed, and this whole country. Because at the beginning, like anyone else, he flashed on the stereotypes: drugs, tattoos, weapons... But he gradually detaches himself from them, these pictures not being the most objective representation of this universe. "What motivates me is to be able to continue to bear witness to these realities, this daily life which is becoming more and more complex, while respecting the dignity and the word of the people he meets." With a regular follow-up for nearly 15 years, Jean-Félix Fayolle shares part of this experience through his book HECHO EN BARRIO.
It compiles different slices of life and themes, representative of the daily life of a whole generation,
of a youth of San Luis Potosí against the background of religious celebrations like those of the Virgin, of San Judas Tadeo or of the Santa Muerte, and of funerals too, with the escalation of the violence linked to the war against narcotics to the war against drug trafficking. "I hope that this work will allow us to better understand the daily life of young people in Mexico, born in a working class neighborhood, left on the bangs of society because of their physical appearance and social background in a context plagued by hyperviolence."
Jean-Félix Fayolle began studying international business and foreign languages and then, after living
in Germany, finished his studies in Mexico in 2007 where he settled in a working class neighborhood and began a photo and video work on the gangs of the neighborhood that would last 15 years.
Eager to engage in social documentary photography, he focuses his work on people left on the margins of society, especially in complex urban areas in Latin America, the Philippines and France. In Nantes, his home town, he also works on commissions for local authorities, companies, associations and the press. After working for the association Kouakilariv' where he realizes projects of image education,
he co-founds in 2013 the collective Iris Pictures. A member of Studio Hans Lucas from 2017 to 2022, he joined the Zeppelin agency this year.
Hecho en barrio by Jean-Félix Fayolle
176 pages
Size 21 x 29 cm
ISBN : 978-2-493152-04-6
Price : 40 € TTC
Release : January 2023
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