The last potters of Patamban

Mateo, who started working in ceramics with her grandmother 64 years ago, in her hometown, Patamban, Mexico. In the state of Michoacan, industrial agriculture and organised crime threaten a cottage industry. — Cesar Rodriguez/The New York Times

MARIA Mateo first started working with clay 64 years ago, at age seven, helping her grandmother mould domed water jugs, called cantaros, and watching her burnish their surfaces with dark, smooth stones.

The work was painstaking but meditative.