In My Mind There is Never Silence (Spanish: En mi mente nunca hay silencio) by Diego Moreno was created between 2014 and 2020 in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. Centered on figures known as "Panzudos Mercedarios," the project merges ancestral religious iconography with the photographer’s intimate reflections on the sense of otherness, rejection, and the search for acceptance.
The work emerges from the cultural and religious tapestry of Chiapas, where the Panzudos, traditionally paraded during the feast of Our Lady of La Merced, symbolize accumulated sins. Their grotesque costumes grow with the weight of these transgressions. By reviving this iconography and placing it within mundane domestic settings, Moreno interrogates the enduring influence of Catholicism and family structures, especially as they relate to gender, sexuality, and the transmission of guilt.
Building on this context, the series explores the uneasy coexistence of the monstrous and the familiar. Moreno stages 41 costumed creatures within family homes—drinking coffee, receiving haircuts, or sitting by children—to question the boundaries between normalcy and otherness. The Panzudos, once solely symbols of penitence, become embodiments of difference: corporeal markers of queer identity, illness, familial shame, and personal resilience.
Visually, the series employs staged photography, with particular attention to the textures of fabrics and the raw interplay of color within each frame. The Panzudos' costumes—made of Halloween masks, Chinese textiles, and inflated forms—clash with subdued domestic interiors. Their vivid intrusion lends a surreal, tense calm to otherwise quiet scenes.
In My Mind There is Never Silence has been shown internationally at institutions and festivals across the Americas and Europe, with notable exhibitions at Blue Sky Gallery (2023) and Les Rencontres d’Arles (2024). The series earned Moreno awards including Foam Talent and LensCulture Emerging Talent, and appeared in a dedicated photobook published in Mexico.
