Refugio Barber: Photograph by Will Tenney

Refugio Barber

In the San Antonio section of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, is narrow Calle Refugio Norte. As we headed up the hill, we passed by a tiny barber shop, its wall painted a bright blue with the obligatory red-striped barber poles painted on either side of the open door. But just beyond one of the painted barber poles, the paint job on the wall was beginning to deteriorate. Several layers of previous paint schemes were in the process of being revealed, while a mysterious character emerged through the layers like a visitor from the past.