d  a  v  i  s      b  i  r  k  s 174 BALAZOS/MEXICO,  2011 The 1997 World Drugs Report estimated the market value of the illegal narcotics industry at US$400bn. For decades now in Mexico, Narco Corridos have glorified in song the cartels and the lives of the drug dealers, tempting many to a violent life in a country with a crucial low minimum wage. Over the last 5 years violence inside Mexico surged, with the Mexican government estimating 90% of the killings as drug related, a statistic that attests to the magnitude of this industry that has contaminated the entire social-political structure. Many of these crimes are carried out in the streets. In 174 BALAZOS/MEXICO, the bullet holes that tear into the door punctuate the violent crimes of the drug trade that mark us and the countries we live in as victims.   Davis Birks, 2011   174 BALAZOS/MEXICO,  2011 intervention with a truck door, 129 x 110 x 20 cm. © 2011 Davis Birks. All rights reserved.