A Mexican artist has created a series of gruesome rugs hoping to lay bare the horrors of gang violence.

Renato Garza Cervera, 39, from Mexico City, produced these hyper-realistic 'skin' rugs depicting fallen gang members in El Salvador.

They show the flattened, naked bodies of gangsters complete with full-sized heads - in a similar way that wild animals, such as bears, are often used as decorative rugs.

Mexico has been rocked by gang violence in recent years with notorious gangs like Mara Salvatrucha and their rivals Calle 18 regularly clashing.

Renato Garza Cervera produced these hyper-realistic 'skin' rugs of fallen gang members in El Salvador

The hyper-realistic rugs show the flattened, naked bodies of gangsters complete with full-sized heads

This set - named 'Of Genuine Contemporary Beast' - depicts deceased members of the 13 and 18 branch of the Mara Salvatrucha gang.

The artist's aim is to show the fear that criminals spread by likening them to 'monsters' - and demonstrates how society views certain ethnic minorities as dispensable.

Cervera said: 'I thought "nowadays what would represent a beastly or animal-like, barbaric kind of bestiality that would represent the Mara Salvatrucha".

'I watched a TV news report where a bunch of almost naked, tattoo-covered, strange hand signal-making guys were all together in what appeared to be a zoo cell.

This set of rugs depicts deceased members of the 13 and 18 branch of the Mara Salvatrucha gang

The artist's aim is to show the fear that criminals spread by likening them to 'monsters'

'It was quite de-humanizing. I immediately recognised the dangers of presenting people as beasts.

'The 'Of Genuine Contemporary Beast' series doesn't actually speak deeply about the gang problem.

'In my opinion, it deals more with the monsters every culture and civilization has inside its communal imagination.'

Cervera modelled the face, the feet and hands before using leather to cut around his silhouette.

He then inked tattoos over the 'skin' using leather, polyester, polyurethane foam, glass eyes, smalt paint and wax coloured pencils.

There are six rugs in total with three for MS-13 as well as rival gang MS-18.

He added: 'When the project started some people suggested me to use a real corpse of a dead MS gang member.

The tattoos were inked over the 'skin' using leather, polyester, polyurethane foam, glass eyes, smalt paint and wax coloured pencils

Cervera modelled the face, the feet and hands before using leather to cut around his silhouette

'That could happen in morgues ten years ago in places like Chiapas or Veracruz.

'Other artists had already been working for a time with human remains.

'But then I realised, besides the fact that I don't have the nerve to do something like that, that it would be even more incorrect in political terms to use human remains.'

Cervera insists that his work can be understood by anyone without the need for background reference - but people still ask him if the work is real.

He will be showing off his work at the end of the year in his home city before also unveiling the designs in Madrid, Spain.

The artist will also have a solo show at the start of next year in Montreal, Canada.

Cervera insists that his work can be understood by anyone without the need for background reference

'It was quite de-humanizing. I immediately recognised the dangers of presenting people as beasts,' the artist said

He added: 'I get usually three questions: 'Aren't you afraid the MS will come after you?', 'Why do you talk about these persons if you're not related to them?', and 'Are the tattoos real?'.

'When mounted on walls it gets even creepier because they resemble a crucifixion.

'Once I showed two of these rugs in downtown LA, blocks away from Macarthur Park, and Salvadoran people came to the show. They made very nice comments on the work.