In Ixtlilco el Grande, a small town in the municipality of Tepalcingo, Morelos, with 3,495 inhabitants, the emblematic Simulacro de los Mecos is held every September 16. This historical reenactment recalls the struggle of Mexico’s Indigenous people against the Spanish royalist troops in 1810, during the Mexican War of Independence. The celebration, laden with symbolism, uses red paint to evoke the blood and sacrifice of the insurgents who confronted Spanish rule.

Theatrical and dance events, as well as the symbols used within the local culture’s worldview, are explored by Pedro Meyer, accompanied by his fellow photographers Ricardo Espinosa Orozco (REO), Pablo Ortiz Monasterio (Monas), Enrique Villaseñor (Villa), and Ricardo Maldonado (Tapir). After two years of forced isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this trip made it possible to rediscover local traditions and prompted a profound reflection in Meyer on the nature of the photographic act: what does it mean to stay in one place capturing images while your friends move all over the place? The integration of visitors, who are painted to become part of the group, evokes the universality of human values, showing how, as in the North American concept of the “Melting Pot,” the human experience is an eternal repetition of shared patterns and values across time and space.