Lucha Libre Extrema

• Photographer
  Annick Donkers, Belgium
• Studio
  Freelance
• Website
  https://www.annickdonkers.com
• Instagram
  https://www.instagram.com/annickdonkers/

Lucha Libre Extrema is a semi-clandestine hardcore genre,
currently prohibited in Mexico City. Events still take place legally
outside the capital, notably at a car wash-turned-arena in
Tulancingo, the village where El Santo, Mexico’s most famous
pro wrestler, was born. The participants receive professional
training and are paid a little bit more because of the risks they
take. They perform with a variety of weapons: chairs,
thumbtacks, wire, and fluorescent lights, turning the ring into a
war zone. Yet the community of luchadores “extremos” is
closely knit and few outsiders have gained access.
Lucha Libre Extrema highlights the many contradictions in
Mexican culture. Mexico has been a very violent place in recent
years so the photographer found it fascinating that people were
drawn to the dangerous world of Lucha Libre Extrema. She
turned her camera to the audience, especially the women and
children present, in an attempt to understand why.

Annick Donkers is a documentary photographer from Antwerp, Belgium. After obtaining a Masters’ degree in Psychology, she decided to specialize in photography. She has received a grant from the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2008 and was selected to participate in the 2008 Seminar on Contemporary Photography at the Centro de la Imagen in Mexico City. Her work has been published internationally (VICE, All About Photo, Phases Magazine, Yet Magazine, Dodho Magazine amongst others) and has been exhibited internationally. She works in Antwerp and Mexico City.

Awards She was one of the winners at the Survival International Competition (UK - 2015), won an award at the San José Photo Festival (Uruguay - 2016), the Sony Awards (UK - 2016), the MIFA awards (Russia - 2016), the IPA awards (USA - 2016), the TIFA awards (Japan - 2016), received an honorable mention at the Px3 Prix de la Photo (France - 2016), was selected at Latin American Photography vol.5/vol.6/vol.7 (USA - 2016-2017-2018) and for the cover of Dodho magazine (Spain - 2016). She was on the Shortlist for the Kolga Awards (Georgia – 2017) and Athens Photofestival (Greece - 2017), received the Premio Pedro Meyer at the Contest for Contemporary Photography (Mexico - 2017), an honorable mention at ND Awards and Chromatic Awards (2017), was the winner of the 2017 Color Prize of Dodho Magazine and the IPOTY Awards (2018), selected at Addis Fotofest (Ethiopia - 2018), Fotofestival Pelt (Belgium - 2019), Shortlist Belfast Photofestival (Ireland - 2019), Shortlist Solo Expo PHest via PHmuseum (UK - 2019), Nomination International Color Awards (USA - 2019), Selection Athens Photofestival (Greece – 2019), Selection Women Grant via Phmuseum(UK – 2019), Nomination International Photography Grant (2019), Selection Addis Fotofest (Ethiopia – 2020), Nomination International Color Awards (USA – 2020). Nomination C/O Berlin Awards (Germany – 2021), Honorable mention IPA awards “One shot Pandemic” (USA – 2021), Honorable mention International Color Awards (USA – 2022 + 2023), Selection “Night of the Year” at Rencontres d’Arles (France – 2023).