Portrait of a dancing clown from the gang "Cuadrilla de Juquilita." Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico, 2016.
Why Clowns Are Everywhere in This Mexican City
In their colorful costumes and painted masks, Mexico's dancing clowns are a fusion of Catholicism and indigenous culture.
When photographer Luján Agusti first moved to Mexico from her native Argentina, she was immediately struck by the myriad religious festivals taking place throughout the year. “Religion is everywhere,” she says.
Agusti, who describes herself as agnostic, became fascinated by the characters and reenactments she would come across during celebrations marking Holy Week, local church anniversaries, and the Day of the Dead. Documenting this colorful blending of Catholicism with indigenous culture, a fusion defined as syncretism, became the crux of her work.
While visiting the town of Coatepec in the southeastern state of Veracruz, she came across one such procession. There, among the parishioners and a group of school band, danced a group of colorful masked clowns led by a character
