Conflict

The Monster In The Mountains

American photographer Matt Black's photo essay reveals why forty-three students went missing in 2014

Matt Black

Matt Black A family at home. El Chuparosa, Guerrero, Mexico. 2013. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black After a party. Cochoapa el Grande, Guerrero, Mexico. 2012. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black A farmer harvests corn on his hillside plot. El Chuparosa, Guerrero, Mexico. 2013. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black A self-defense group at a checkpoint. Apantla, Guerrero. 2015. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black A body hangs from a tree. Ayutla De Los Libres, Guerrero. 2015. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black Women at home. Cochoapa el Grande, Guerrero, Mexico. 2012. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black A child sleeps on a corn sack. El Chuparosa, Guerrero, Mexico. 2013. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black A Day of the Dead procession. San Miguel Amoltepec, Guerrero, Mexico. 2013. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black After a mudslide. San Miguel Amoltepec, Guerrero, Mexico. 2013. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black A procession. San Miguel Amoltepec, Guerrero, Mexico. 2013. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black Clouds drift down the mountains. El Chuparosa, Guerrero, Mexico. 2013. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black A farmer’s wife cooks lunch. El Chuparosa, Guerrero, Mexico. 2013. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black A child’s handprints. El Chuparosa, Guerrero, Mexico. 2013. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos
Matt Black A farmer at home. El Chuparosa, Guerrero, Mexico. 2013. © Matt Black | Magnum Photos

On September 26, 2014, forty-three students were abducted in the town of Iguala, in Guerrero, Mexico’s second poorest and most violent state. In the indigenous regions of La Montaña and the Costa Chica, where many of the students lived, the disappearances are another example of the afflictions that plague their region: political corruption, social marginalization, violence, and entrenched poverty.

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