The Tarahumara are a tribe of Indians living in the north of Mexico, in the state of Chihuahua. In 1936, the French poet and director Antonin Artaud went to them to experience the “path of Siguri” - to join the secrets of the priests who use the hallucinogen peyote in their rituals. Artaud began working on a book about his experiences in a psychiatric hospital, where he was imprisoned shortly after returning from Mexico. * * *The entire life of the Tarhuamara revolves around the erotic ritual of peyote. Peyote's rhizome is hermaphrodite and resembles both male and female genitalia. The secret of the Indians lies precisely in this ritual. Peyote returns the self to its true origins. You no longer doubt who you are. The Tarahumara Indians live as if they were already dead. They do not perceive reality and draw magical powers from the contempt they feel for civilization. Antonin Artaud

Published within the framework of the Pushkin program with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French Embassy in Russia Antonin Artaud Les Tarahumaras Gallimard