Gregg first came across these processions after arriving in Mexico City in 2020, hoping to enjoy the comparative freedom that the nation’s relaxed COVID-19 restrictions offered. Taken to Tepito by a friend knowledgeable about the new religious movement of Santa Muerte, Gregg himself was in the dark. “My way of working is very instinctive. I almost intentionally try to arrive somewhere having done as little research as possible. It sounds ignorant and lazy, but I actually think it’s a very good method for achieving honest results. You go into these environments without any prejudice whatsoever and what you experience is the reality.”

It’s certainly plausible that some people might have tried to dissuade Gregg from photographing Tepito’s Santa Muerte believers. “The things you read about Santa Muerte, its connections to the narcos for example, it has a very negative reputation, especially in the mainstream media,” Gregg explains. “As they say, ‘fear is the mind killer’, and if I had listened to the fearmongering mainstream media over the past decade then this project as well as others in Napoli and Bangkok would have never happened. But, with that being said, I would still only advise going to Tepito with a local or someone who knows the area well.”