Adela Legarreta Rivas run over by a Datsun, Mexico City, 1979

Since the late 1940s Metinides has worked for the Mexican popular press, mainly tabloids and newspapers, photographing what has become known as the nota roja (bloody news) section. His subjects, all photographed around his native Mexico City, include violent and tragic events: car accidents, airplane crashes, murders, suicides, and natural disasters. Metinides's work resembles scenes from the movies. In this photograph, the protagonist, Adela Legarreta Rivas, has been struck by a car on Avenida Chapultepec. The artist has captured her unfortunate fate with cold objectivity, depicting her lifeless body resting on a fallen lamppost.

Since the late 1940s, Metinides has worked for the Mexican tabloid press, primarily tabloids and newspapers, photographing what has become known as the “nota roja” (bloody news) section. His subjects, all photographed in and around his native Mexico City, include violent and tragic events: car accidents, airplane crashes, murders, suicides, and natural disasters. Metinides’s work resembles scenes from the movies. In this photograph, the protagonist, Adela Legarreta Rivas, has been struck by a car on Avenida Chapultepec. The artist has captured her tragic fate with cold objectivity, depicting her lifeless body resting against a fallen lamppost.