Metinides's work documents a macabre history of the city and its deterioration from the relatively peaceful and naive capital of the 1950s to the schizophrenic megalopolis of the twenty-first century.
His camera not only portrays tragedy and its direct relation to negligence, corruption and urban misery, but also the spectacle of the tragedy, in which masses are crowded in peculiar fashion. Metinides's unique style brings together straight investigation with surreal, sensitive and hypnotic imagery, and has profoundly inspired a new generation of contemporary Mexican artists.
Accompanying over 70 illustrations, texts by Geoff Dyer, Nestor Garcia Canclini and an interview with the artist by Gabriel Kuri delve deeper into these stark depictions of urban life.