Drabek and Estrellita Queretana, amateur professional wrestlers and partners, sit in the living room of their home in the El Salitre neighborhood of Querétaro, Mexico. Framed masks, trophies, and certificates won by Drabek throughout his wrestling career hang on the wall behind them. October 12, 2025.
Love and Luchas follows Drabek and Estrellita Queretana, a couple of amateur lucha libre wrestlers in Queretaro, Mexico, whose lives unfold between the ring and the quiet discipline of everyday life. Far from the spectacle of national icons, their story is built on routine: training sessions, family obligations, neighborhood events, and matches at Arena Queretaro, where wrestling remains deeply rooted in local culture.
By day, Drabek works as a police officer in a victim assistance unit; by night, he becomes a masked rudo. This double life reveals lucha libre not only as performance, but as a parallel identity sustained by sacrifice, endurance, and community recognition. Estrellita Queretana, a veteran of the local circuit, carries that same commitment into the home, where faith, family, and endurance shape her strength inside and outside the ring.
More than an individual pursuit, lucha libre emerges here as a collective practice. Family members support, train, promote, and dream together, passing the tradition across generations. Love and Luchas is a portrait of those who keep lucha libre alive away from the spotlight—where persistence, belonging, and shared labor sustain a living cultural practice.
Sandra Hernández (VitaFlumen) is a photographer and a Fujifilm ambassador based in Mexico. Ten years ago, she decided to leave her career as an architect to pursue her dream of becoming a photographer. Her work focuses on documenting everyday stories that often go unnoticed, exploring the universality of the human experience.
She is a freelance photographer withReuters, and her images have been featured in national and international publications. She has participated in overfifty solo and group exhibitions across four continents and has earned awards in prestigious global photography competitions.
Sandra is a member ofWomen Photograph, a pro member ofThe Raw Society, and an alum ofThe Eddie Adams Workshop. Her passion for photography has driven her to achieve milestones such as creatingAntología de Fotografía de Calle Mexicana, the first book dedicated to street photography in Mexico, and foundingObservadores Urbanos, a platform that promotes Latin American street photography.
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