LAURA HONSE Photography

Came across this strange empty lot during my few hours in San Miguel Allende. I guess it is an occupied, squatted lot. It has this big cross and a little bird house in one corner…

This afternoon I went to a lower class neighborhood in Coyoacan to watch the traditional play of the Passions of Christ put on by the neighborhood theatre. It really was quite fantastic. A huge Roman stage was set up behind the church in the courtyard which had been covered by a tarp and filled with chairs to protect people from the blazing sun. The streets were filled with people trying to make money by opening up their garage as a restaurant or selling food, beverages, or souvenirs from the sidewalks. The place was crammed. People on rooftops, in windows, in trees, on walls, on the church steps, in the church. The theatre piece went on for hours and then there was a procession, which was more like a stampede, with Jesus carrying the cross. It winded around a few streets with an ambulance, police and security close by. Then it headed up into the hills which were covered in a raw landscape of wild, dry vegetation and volcanic rock. On a platform formed by this volcanic rock, Jesus was crucified. The place was like Disneyland. Vendors everywhere. Dogs. Women breast-feeding their infants. People in hammocks and on blankets. Babies were crying from the heat. Crazy teenagers. Grannies and grandpas in old fashioned clothes. It was insane… Jesus crucified amidst a party. Look at him… I mean, this guy looks for real.

I shot this in Puebla where the stores are now full of statues of baby Jesus. This gay guy was taking a baby Jesus out of the window and although I had already shot a woman with baby Jesus in her arms this was completely different. I redid it in Photoshop with a paint filter which is something that I normally never do but I decided to play upon all the curves flowing sensuously on the man’s face, his arms and the bodies of Christ on the cross and make my Christmas card out of it.