Tropico de Cancer

JORIS IVENS AWARD

To survive, some families in the San Luis Potosi desert in Mexico catch wild animals. The men and children trap snakes, rats, birds… animals they know well as they share together the desert’s harshness. The women skin the snakes and then sell the tanned skins and live animals at the side of Highway 57, the biggest highway in Mexico. An endless stream of trucks speeds by with a deafening roar. And then, expensive cars stop. Their well-fed, hurried, citydwelling passengers bargain and haggle over the modest prices.