“It’s very easy to photograph people that love to be photographed,” Daniela Rossell explains. For her series Ricas y Famosas (The Rich and the Famous) — Rossell took exuberant portraits of the Mexico’s 1%, specifically the super-rich young female spawn of politicians, businessmen and businessmen-politicians. As evident in the portraits, the girls enjoyed it quite a lot, sprawling dramatically in their opulent homes, resting on tigers and other perfectly reasonable domestic pets, posing next to gilded furniture, and pouting surrounded by pomp and glamor. Then, when the essay went public, many of the Mexican people voiced outrage against these “poster girls for corruption.” The photographer explained: “There has been a melodramatic pattern of saying these women are evil; they represent corruption; they represent 70 years of PRI rule.” Some girl requested to be dropped from the series. Alas, as Slate puts it, “poor little rich girls.” Peek inside their rarefied world through our gallery.
Photo credit: Daniela Rossell
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