The river and the horse | DER GREIF — The river and the horse

Beto the fisherman | DER GREIF — Beto the fisherman

Sunset in La Gallarda | DER GREIF — Sunset in La Gallarda

Cayuco and the river | DER GREIF — Cayuco and the river

Family portraits | DER GREIF — Family portraits

Portrait of my grandmother Lola | DER GREIF — Portrait of my grandmother Lola

My mother and I at the Tlacotalpan pier | DER GREIF — My mother and I at the Tlacotalpan pier

David in a shark costume on carnival days | DER GREIF — David in a shark costume on carnival days

The river trail | DER GREIF — The river trail

The family photo of memory | DER GREIF — The family photo of memory

Days of diving in the river | DER GREIF — Days of diving in the river

Carnival Night | DER GREIF — Carnival Night

Saving the bull | DER GREIF — Saving the bull

"Bocho" waiting for the La Parranda | DER GREIF — "Bocho" waiting for the La Parranda

Greetings from Papaloapan | DER GREIF — Greetings from Papaloapan

Sunset over the Papaloapan River | DER GREIF — Sunset over the Papaloapan River

Don Felipe Cobos | DER GREIF — Don Felipe Cobos

Room in my grandmother and mother's neighborhood | DER GREIF — Room in my grandmother and mother's neighborhood

En la Tierra Baja (In the Low Land)

Artist Feature of Alí Marín

Oct 25, 2023

In the river basin of the Papaloapan River in Veracruz, Mexico, the people have built a story, an economy, and a very peculiar culture and identity. Their lives are both determined and threatened by the river’s annual swelling.

This story starts from the search for my maternal grandmother Lola in a scarce family album, to explore the relationship between the community of Tlacotalpan and its river.

The annual flooding of the river poses a historical contradiction: on the one hand, it is a means of transportation, an economic source, and a detonator of identity; but on the other, it is an unstoppable force that threatens to submerge everything.

This is a story about identity preservation and memory protection. It is a story about the need to belong to our territory. It is the story of a people who refuses to disappear and imposes itself saying: “The river gives but it also takes away.”