They are called Baby Star, Zafiro, Oyuki, Estrella Diabólica… In Ciudad Juárez (Chihuahua State), a city scarred since the 1990s by an alarming wave of femicides (estimates range from 2,500 to 3,000, with hundreds of disappearances), these masked wrestlers who practice lucha libre (“free wrestling”) embody heroines who refuse to be statistics and silent victims.
Thanks to reporter Kathrin Zeiske, herself a luchadora (“Miss Kath”), photographer Jana Margarete Schuler has visited the site six times since 2023 and shared the daily life of these women and their families. “Many are single mothers, and have endured machismo their whole lives,” says Jana. “Their courage and their self-confidence astonished me.”
In Mexico, lucha libre, hugely popular since the 1930s, is a theater of moral values and national pride. In major cities, numerous costumed urban vigilantes draw inspiration from masked wrestling to defend various causes, and they make headlines: Superbarrio Gómez was born after the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City in response to the authorities’ neglect, Peatónito protects pedestrians, Superecologista defends urban nature…
The mask, a central element of lucha libre, protects identity and also builds a character, an alter ego often named after figures of strength, resilience, or even vengeance. After a photo session, one of Ciudad Juárez’s luchadoras gave hers to Jana, a moment she will never forget: “It is such an important and personal object, far beyond the costume… It was an exceptional mark of trust.”
➤ Article paru dans le magazine GEO n°571, “L’Italie confidentielle, des Marches à la Calabre”, de septembre 2026.
➤ Vous aimez GEO ? Alors pour ne rien manquer, découvrez nos formules d’abonnement pour recevoir chaque mois GEO chez vous en toute simplicité.
