Some days ago I learned, with great sadness, about the death of French-Spanish film maker and photographer, Christian Poveda. I had the pleasure and honor to meet Christian some years ago in Mexico. Sitting in a privileged garden in the mountains at the Gulf Coast of Mexico and drinking tea with rum, he talk enthusiastically about the project he was about to start in El Salvador.
Christian Poveda devoted his work and his life to portray social conflicts all over Ibero-America. He spent over three years in El Salvador, working with La Mara Salvatrucha and La Mara 18, two rival gangs composed by Salvadorans, Hondurans, Guatemalans and Nicaraguans and that have held a ruthless war for over a decades. Over 14 thousand forgotten youngsters show a tremendous rage through their tattoos and the complete devotion to their gang, that comes to replace family. They are heirs to the gangs formed in the United States during the 1980′s by the Salvadorian immigrants that flew from El Salvador during the civil war. Born in the Ghettos of Los Angeles, the legend of the Maras became stronger in Central America as the illegal immigrants were deported back to El Salvador. Through his film, La Vida Loca, presented at the San Sebastian Festival last year, Christian documented the personal and everyday life of some members of these gangs, masterfully portraying the violent phenomenon that has been imported from the USA.
As commented by Mexican photographer Ulises Castellanos, when talking about his work Christian insisted on transmitting the idea of how artists should get involved in their own work and always be honest with the individuals that were the object of their obsessions. He was committed with his work, with the people we worked with and with the world in general. Christian used to say that it was that dedication that led him to become a paternal figure for the gangs; kids, who were mostly orphans or abandoned by their parents, found a generous person in him. He visited them every day, just stopping by to find our how they were doing and, this, establishing a unique bond.
On September 2009, Christian was shot to dead in the Salvadorian barrio of Tonacatepeque, 16 kilometers to the north of San Salvador.
Watching his film has been a bitter-sweet experience. The film shows the unique and utterly beautiful way in how Christian Poveda captured images and emotions and, at the same time it shows the crude and desperate reality of El Salvador. There is also the pride and satisfaction of seeing a friend’s work so masterfully accomplished, but seasoned with the sadness of knowing that he is no longer here.
You can visit the homage exhibition, put together by his Mexican Students in cooperation with Zona Zero:
http://zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/poveda/index.html
Adieu chère
