Fromm Salamca

The 10-member family Hildebrandt lives in the Mexican Caribbean. They don‘t use electricity, don‘t drive a car, and don‘t have a phone like most Mennonite families. The Mennonites, like the Armischen, developed from the Anabaptist movement of the Reformation. They were mainly expelled from Germany and Europe in the 18th century and today live in homogeneous communities around the world. According to the Mennonite World Conference, there are 2.1 million of them. Since they only marry among themselves, many of them are blonde or blue-eyed. Men only wear overalls and cowboy hats, women always wear the same cut dresses and wide-brimmed hats. Her life is also highly structured and is defined, among other things, by the demarcation from the outsideworld. In March 2020, they will still board a plane to Peru because the Hildebrandts are moving. In Peru, the arable land is less stony and the rain is more constant. I spent a week with the family in November. I was able to get to know them and their way of life and even found a more or less functioning common language: somewhere between Old, Low German and High German. The language of the Mennonites is of course no longer original Low German or Old German, but has changed over the decades, as has the singing. I wonder if we can compare our- selves with their way of life: individuality towards community.

Latest Projects

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Stay in the loop


We will send you weekly news on contemporary photography. You can change your mind at any time. We will treat your data with respect. For more information please visit our privacy policy. By ticking here, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with them. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.