Border Towns: Living with the Cartel

“Those extremes of light and dark, openness and secrecy, recur throughout my photographs from the border as well,” Webb says. “And as soon as the film crosses the border into Mexico for the first time, the colour becomes rawer, more vibrant, more visceral, something that seems to exist in my own border work.”
Sicario highlights the broader political complexities of US-Mexican drugs and border policies; of how sometimes, they can seem all too similar. It’s a correlation Webb also recognises.


Yet, despite working with both Mexican and US law enforcement to document illegal drug activity in a selection of cartel photography, Webb’s work predominantly predates the extreme level of drug violence surrounding the illegal drugs trade. He’s keen, therefore, it not be considered a polemic on drugs trafficking.
“My primary interest in the U.S.-Mexico border has always been about the phenomenon of the border, not just the presence of drugs,” says Webb. “My photography is never an intellectual exercise: it is a visceral and visual response to the world around me.”
Sicario is out now on Blu-ray, DVD and digital platforms, courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment.
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