Author(s): Mayan Toledano (Photographer)

Photography & Art | Multicultural Studies, Race & People of Colour

No Mames is a portrait of Mexico City, a place that's become a creative home for my work and personal life. As a queer artist I naturally want to tell stories of my community and this series celebrates the local LGBTQ+ artists, designers and creatives who are currently contributing to Mexican culture. They all work within what I found to be a very tight knit community, some of them are couples, roommates, childhood friends. The portraits emphasize the beauty, reality and fantasy of each of the subjects through their work and personal identity.

The process of how I take these usually starts with a visit to each subject's home, where we create an honest and realistic depiction of their lives and what they like to share, who they are that day. A second portrait is usually taken in response to a fantasy version they have of themselves, something we develop together. Sometimes it's a character in drag and sometimes an imagination or inspiration they have. With people like Havi for example, pictured to the left, I've been following her transition and relationship with her boyfriend over the time we've spent together. In this Image from November 2021, she had just gone through breast augmentation surgery to become a more authentic version of herself.

A lot of the images often concern the interior lives people - existences that often revolve around the bedroom. The bedroom is the first place that is your own and private, and it's the first place to be creative. I find connecting story elements between someone's space and who they are. It is my priority that these pictures capture the sense of humanity, empathy, intimacy, and opennes they allow through the window I get into these people's lives. No Mames is a celebration of the flourishing LGBTQ+ individuals who are energizing the city's art and design industries and making work in their own image.

January 2024