UNDERCOVER

Through visual essay, I explore corruption's uncertainty in Mexico City's real estate. Post-earthquake imagery reflects mourning, revealing covert dealings and opaque power. In transparency's absence, corruption thrives unseen, cloaked in darkness.

Visual essay on the uncertainty associated with corruption in the real estate sector of Mexico City. A visual metaphor that portrays a city overwhelmed by the real estate pressure of housing developments, many of them constructed under the shadow of corruption, as demonstrated in the tragic earthquake of September 19, 2017, in which, according to official figures, 369 people died. Buildings covered with a black shroud are shown as involuntary symbols of mourning, symbols of the corrupt agreements carried out covertly and clandestinely between authorities and real estate developers. Images that are presented as opaque to our gaze as a denunciation of the violence that accompanies corruption, which, like power, is characterized by being unobservable. The strategy of power is opacity and concealment, and the codes and agreements among those who share its privileges lack transparency and cannot be seen (Segato, 2018).

All images were taken after the earthquake of 2017 in Mexico City. The covered buildings are either damaged structures by the earthquake or new buildings under construction. One really can ́t tell.