Our Mexico magazine is off to the printers in April and before we bid it farewell, I wanted to share a collection of photos that - while utterly stunning - we simply couldn’t fit in our ever-explanding magazine … oh to have even more pages. I’ve run them here with part of my draft editor’s letter (don’t worry, still have a little time to polish it up before it hits the press), to give you a taste of what’s to come - biased as I may be, this magazine is going to be rather special.
I’ve waxed lyrical about diversity before, yet Mexico is something else entirely - a destination that lends itself to lists, to half finished thoughts, rather than sentences. It is a sensory overload, an explosion of colour and passion, a place with no desire to be captured, tamed, frozen on the page. The cultures, traditions, accents, flavours and designs are so manifold that should you travel from the north to the south, you’d swear you had stumbled upon a different world. Heck, Mexico City and Puebla, separated by a two hour bus ride, could well be countries apart. Mexico is impossible to know in full, and is a nation that is forever evolving, while somehow remaining beholden to its past.
When it comes to Mexico - where grace and joy are intwined with sorrow, heartbreak and the etherial - 164 pages doesn't feel like enough … and an editor’s letters seems entirely useless. So, instead of introducing some of her many guises (as the land of powerful matriarchs and enterprising women, Mexico is indeed female), I shall instead explain why I chose our cover photo, captured during Día de Muertos celebrations in Chiapas by Jimena Peck.
The world is in flux at the moment - things are fast-changing, difficult and far from predictable. However, I wanted to release this Mexico magazine on schedule, not only for the sake of our wonderful contributors (who are talented beyond words and travel in such daring, brilliant ways) and those we have featured (some of whom are inevitably struggling at the moment), but because the world needs beauty. Wanderlust, support, escape, appreciation and joy are vital, and I so hope in some small way this issue provides that. Be kind, despite all that is happening, we are astoundingly connected.
These photos come from Ellen Hancock, Angela Terrell, Jimena Peck, Emma Phillips and Leila Ashtari. Click on their names to visit their websites.
To pre-order the magazine (and right now, every pre-order helps more than you could know), click here.
