The Mara Salvatrucha, distilled *

* Image above by CCMC, via La Plaza.

Spanish photographer Isabel Muñoz went to document the Maras of El Salvador. An exhibit of her work was up at Centro Cultural del Mexico Contemporaneo in the Centro Historico behind the Templo Santo Domingo until the end of December. We caught it on December 31.

The show featured a series of arresting large-scale portraits of Maras, male and female (some pregnant), highlighting the extreme tattooing that distinguishes soldiers in the multinational gang. Muñoz also shot many Maras in their domestic spaces -- which is to say, in prison -- offering a look at their visual surroundings: layers of murals on ceilings and walls depicting demons and Satan, clowns, naked women, Death, and tombstones for their departed homies. The murderous Mara Salvatrucha of course was founded on the streets of the MacArthur Park-Pico Union area of inner Los Angeles, by surviving refugees of the Salvadoran Civil War. As many were deported back to Central America by subsequent anti-gang crackdowns in the U.S., the gang's reach globalized, along with that of 18th Street. You didn't get much of this crucial context in the show. What were we supposed to feel for these guys? Empathy? Fear? Disgust? Pity?

I asked a Salvadoran American artist friend for thoughts:

One thing that [bugs] me about the act of presenting them in Mexico (if they look like what I think they look like) [is] that they are only perpetuating the same old stereotypes that many uneducated Mexicans have of Salvadorans, at a time when there's so much opportunity to build bridges and deconstruct the many negative mis-perceptions and lack of knowledge about Central Americans by many Mexicans. This only does harm in the end I feel.

* For more, See Mandalit Del Barco's related reports at NPR here and here. ** ADD: The L.A. Times's 2005 package on MS by Robert J. Lopez, Chris Kraul, and Rich Connell, with photos and video.

Comments

[Richard]

An amazing post. Good to have you back and posting again, Daniel!

What makes this so interesting is that the Mexico City show attempts to treat MS on very complex human grounds (inter-disciplinary and all that high academic talk), in contrast to the Times's treatment, which is pretty interesting in its own right. The LAT tends to portray MS as a primarily criminal phenomenon and a matter of police and journalistic importance. At any rate, the subject matter, in my opinion, is at the doorstep of really serious study.

[Erich]

Hi Daniel,

Do you think you might want to republish this on lataco.com? Email me if so...

[Hector]

That's when you know someone just doesn't give a damn anymore, when they're all tattooed up, neck face, head, everything.

I don't think there's much study about why young boys really join gangs. I think it's simplistic to say it's because of a lack of jobs, which some gang intervention programs say. I don't think that's really it though. It's probably very complex in some ways, and simpler than we think in other ways.

[Daniel Hernandez]

Thank you Richard, Hector. Yeah the complexities of all this are wayyy submerged... Guess you'd have to ask the gangbangers themselves.

[Gustavo Arellano]

Hector, the best literature I've found of gangs is James Diego Vigil's "Barrio Gangs: Street Life and Identity in Southern California." Was published in the late 1980s but still invaluable.

[Alejandro]

There's no question for me; fear is my first response. Did you ever see the CNN report about MS a few years back?

[Marco Antonio Solis]

WOW!..
the most eye opening part of the story is the stereotype that Salvadorian American artist have toward Mexicans that attend art exhibits. I don't see the harm in an artist (spanish artist)displaying her work even if it is a touchy subject. but its also a reality and so are the hard working people of el Salvador who were probably being exhibited the week before.. (I checked, they were)
but this isn't a story about them its about "the mara" so Daniel, ask your friend to be more open minded, and not be ashamed
of the tattoos on his neck...

also please more stories from Gaza!

[frank]

Ironic that the MS-13 gang was initially formed by the immigrants/civil war refugees from El Salvador who needed to protect themselves from the mexican street gangs i.e 18th street gang. Now the 18th street gang accepts new recruits from Central America as a way to grow their ranks.

I also see/know many mexicans who have a low opinion of Central Americans and see Central American as being full of maras. Another bit of irony when you read about daily murders and the beheadings in mexico by their drug cartels who operate in a country where corruption helps the mexican drug cartels operate.

[Victoria]

I had been really curious about the show, and when I finally saw it, I felt a tiny bit let down.

But not really. I found it fascinating that in spite of the hardcore tattoos (face, neck, scalp, eyelids etc) and imagery in the tattos, I could still feel a human connection, I felt curious about how they might think and feel and love...

Granted, I'm not Mexican, but I didn't perceive any kind of enforcement of stereotypes of Salvadorans.

Mostly I felt admiration for the photographer and the relationships that she created in the execution of the project.

It was a good show, very honest. I suspect I might have been disappointed initially because I was expecting more direction as how to feel about them.

But the photos leave that totally up to the viewer.

[Susan Cruz]

Some, will leave to posterity their rants and raves on the web, while others wear them on their skin.