A selection of photographs from Lua Ribeira's 2022 ongoin series Agony in the Garden, made in various cities across the Spanish territory in collaboration with people involved in the Trap and Drill music scene.

My work almost always starts with something that I am really close to. I listen to Trap and Drill music, observing how these cultural movements articulate the precarity of living through crisis after crisis combined with the euphoria of making everything in your own way and sharing it directly, without any censorship from intermediary platforms or global corporations. The "DNA" of this frenetic and raw expression-of hedonism versus nihilism, darkness versus joy, the glorification of wealth and banalization of violence- is resonating globally for a reason. I wanted to pay attention to a scene that came from somewhere honest and responded to what was really going on, and to think about how it released all of this energy and on such a scale.

If I'm documenting anything, it's the relationships I enter into with the people I photograph. I know that movements like Trap and Drill would have historically been labeled as a subculture by the media, photojournalism, and traditional documentary but it's important for me to be resistant to those conventions. I embrace the fact that my work comes from a primitive need for love and connection and try to transcend the anecdotal or pure testimonial. Photography and society can both be deeply contradictory; simultaneously erotic and violent, subtle and gentle. I believe that it's important to make images that have inherent contradictions and are open to interpretation creating a space where you can see yourself