Los Niños de la Colosio

The cloudy sky of a silent Mexico is reflected in the blue of the Caribbean Sea, beneath a sun that hides behind a gray curtain.
The land, occupied by humans, breaks the jungle into leopard-like patches: urbanization has conquered territories that once were the pantheon of the Mayan civilization.
On one side, the tourist economy has transformed the landscape and nature; on the other, everything remains the same. Always the same. Always them. The people.

This work is born from a story.
A tale like many others in the world.
A brief fragment of the universe, a handful of fleeting images.

One afternoon in April 2011, while walking near my home, I met a ten-year-old boy. One among many who live on the outskirts of Playa del Carmen, in the neighborhood known as “Colosio.” This plot of land lies just a few minutes from the center of the world-famous tourist town, yet the feeling is of being somewhere else entirely—an aspect of humanity I have seen many times before. So close, yet so far.

José—this is the name of the niño—was curious about my presence: a foreigner calmly walking through those streets.
He approached me with the serenity that only a child of that age can have. We introduced ourselves, and he asked if he could accompany me on my walk. Perhaps he wanted to act as my guide, or perhaps my presence simply sparked his curiosity.

We walked together for a couple of hours, trying in some way to get to know one another.
He told me about his family, his dreams, his everyday reality: school, helping at home, friends, desires. Everything around us seemed to be listening.
It was the ordinary life of a ten-year-old boy, in that place.

At a certain point, I asked him what his favorite dish was.
He answered, “Pizza.”
As a good Italian, I explained that this delicious dish originated in our country and asked him how long it had been since he last ate it.
I saw something change in his eyes.

“Since January,” he replied, “because my father can’t afford it.”

From this conversation with José, this project was born.