The Flower Girls: Mennonites in Mexico

2 minute read

The first time Mexican photographer Eunice Adorno saw the flower girls, they were standing in the shadow of a tree, wearing shiny pantyhose, staring directly at her. “When I walked up to them, there was a mysterious silence,” Adorno said. “When I talked to them, their sole reply was an enigmatic glance. From that moment on, I felt an immense curiosity for them.”

This was the beginning of a project that spanned the course of several years, culminating in the book, Las Mujeres Flores, published this month by La Fabrica. The book is an intimate portrayal of women within the isolated Mennonite communities in Nuevo Ideal, in the state of Durango, and La Onda, in Zacatecas, Mexico.

“Gaining their trust was a slow process,” Adorno said. “Little by little, they started inviting me to their houses, to have tea with them, to go for a walk.” The community spoke German, which was a barrier for Adorno, who speaks English and Spanish, so she got to know them through the places where they spend their lives and through family photographs they showed her. “In my own pictures I try to highlight the importance of those details, their objects, the moments and places they cherish.”

Today's phenom may go nowhere, but that has never stopped politicos from rejoicing or panicking

That attention to detail is clear in many of Adorno’s photographs – the arrangement of bowls on a table; plaster moldings of teeth on a window sill; a lone magnet of a married couple on a refrigerator. Adorno also focused deeply on portraiture. The first was of a woman named Maria, after she unbraided her hair. “As she stood by the door and stared directly into the camera, I felt a sort of complicity, an acceptance of the camera. It was incredible.”

Adorno said she was heavily influenced not only by August Sander’s portraits and Magnum photographer Larry Towell’s work on the Mennoninte community, but also by the women themselves. “I was amazed by the feminine universe so full of color,” she said.

Eunice Adorno is a freelance photographer based in Mexico City, Mexico. She was part of the 2011 Joop Swart Masterclass. Las Mujeres Flores is available in the Moma and Dashhwood Books.

Patrick Witty is the International picture editor at TIME. Follow him on twitter @patrickwitty.

Hair combing at sunset. Every Thursday afternoon, young people gather on the fields, around the crops and nearby the houses. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010Eunice Adorno
Dentures at Margarita’s office. Margarita is the community’s dentist. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010 Eunice Adorno
Sharing pictures. Some women showed me pictures they had taken of their family. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010 Eunice Adorno
Young couple after their marriage. Traditional Mennonite weddings are very important and are conducted in silence. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010 Eunice Adorno
Tapestry. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010 Eunice Adorno
Untitled. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010Eunice Adorno
Untitled. La Onda, Zacatecas, Mexico, 2010 Eunice Adorno
The Peters sister’s room. Both the venison and the doll are precious memories from their childhood, Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010 Eunice Adorno
Untitled. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010 Eunice Adorno
From left to right, Elizabeth Peters, Sarah Peters, Anita and Margaret on a Sunday meeting. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010 Eunice Adorno
Food at noon. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010Eunice Adorno
Foreign objects in the house. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010Eunice Adorno
Rebeca looking at letters and drawings. La Onda, Zacatecas, Mexico, 2010Eunice Adorno
María unbraids her hair twice a week. María is a single woman who works at other Mennonite families’ houses, Nuevo Ideal, Durango, México, 2010Eunice Adorno
María unbraids her hair twice a week. María is a single woman who works at other Mennonite families’ houses, Nuevo Ideal, Durango, México, 2010Eunice Adorno
Decorative detail in a bathroom. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010 Eunice Adorno
Elizabeth fixing a tractor. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010Eunice Adorno
Young couple after their marriage. Traditional Mennonite weddings are very important and are conducted in silence, Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010 Eunice Adorno
The Hilderbrants' two refrigerators. 2009Eunice Adorno
Dead woman laying under dirt, ice and sawdust within the place she died from heart disease. Her community pays her mourning by visiting the place for the next three days, Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2010 Eunice Adorno
Domingo en la Iglesia. Nuevo Ideal, Durango, Mexico, 2009Eunice Adorno

More Must-Reads from TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com