80% of the world’s dogs are street dogs – feral animals that live among humans, but not as pets. During the past few years, I have traveled towns in Oaxaca and the Yucatan, and have followed street dogs around for days in an effort to photograph, map out, and understand this life of theirs. I've discovered a complex social structure of dogs that intersects with human society and yet is completely independent of it; in the street dog world, there are leaders and followers, love affairs and territorial disputes, friendships and enmities. These photos offer a glimpse into their world.
In Oaxaca, a thriving city high up in the mountains of south-central Mexico, lives a society of street dogs, or callejeros. Callejeros are indigenous to many Mexican towns and cities, and the Centro Historico of Oaxaca is home to at least a dozen, many of which I have encountered and followed on several trips over the last two years. There is the Zocalo Gang of stalwart Blanco, ornery Pequeño, tearful Llorona and friendly Pinta; smug alpha male Bailarin; the friendly Pancho and his lover Loyal; indifferent Gordo and his friend the timid Cloudfoot; the aging Mr. Clean; crazy Marco; fun-loving Odie, and many others.
These dogs spend their lives weaving through human society, interacting gently when begging for food or eating food that sympathetic people have left out for them, and more antagonistically when they are kicked, shoved, spit at or shooed away by annoyed townsfolk. Mostly though, they roam the streets, obsessively sniffing and marking trees and corners, hunting for food, finding sunny or shady spots to nap in, and occasionally getting into scraps with each other.
After building a rapport with many of these dogs, I was able to follow along as they lived their lives, and I saw firsthand the joy of finding a discarded bone at the butchers' or chasing a taxi, the elation and then frustration of having too much food to guard against a bigger dog, the fear of old ladies holding broomsticks, the savage glee of scaring off a pet dog on a leash.
This project is ongoing - though I have spent two months over the last two years making this work, I plan to spend at least another month over the coming year adding to my series and eventually producing a book telling the various narratives of the motley cast of characters presented here.