Tania

Photos and texts: © Alicia Vera

  • Tania, 20, is an aspiring professional boxer training at the Gimnasio Gloria in Tepito, a neighborhood known as "Barrio Bravo" (fierce neighborhood). It has been populated by the lower class since it's inception and has been under siege by criminals and cops alike, earning it one of the highest crime rates in Mexico City - 13.9% percent, according to a UNAM study. City statistics also claim that 14.4% of it's jail population resides there.
  • It is also home to a long history of first rate professional boxing. Boxing provides an emotional, social, and economic outlet. It's lessons bleeds into every day life. It teaches confidence, discipline, respect, determination. Some of Tepito's most famous boxers include world champions such as Raul Burgos, Raul Macias, and Ruben Olivares.
  • Tepito is also where Tania, Yael - her four year old son, and mother who helps raise him call home. This is an ongoing story about Tania's life and how it relates to social class and gender issues in Mexico.