For Vogue Mexico and Latin America’s 20th anniversary issue, we celebrated women who are impacting local culture, politics and sport. We conceived, researched, art directed and produced six cover stories for an unprecedented special issue of the magazine that focused on roles models, not fashion models.
Lorena Ramirez
María Lorena Ramírez is a 25-year-old Tarahumara runner who has been winning long-distance marathons against both men and women around the world.
Left: Lorena poses from one of the highest peaks of the canyon of Sinforosa, known as the queen of the canyons in the Tarahumara mountain range. Right: Lorena runs along side her sister Talina.
Left: Lorena along side her brother, Antonio, who is also her trainer; Right: Antonio's feet.
The Tarahumara, an indigenous group from Chihuahua, are known for their long distance running abilities. Historically, running was a necessity to communicate between distant settlements throughout the Sierra Tarahumara. Today, María Lorena Ramírez’s innate talent and endurance brings global attention to her community.
La señora María Teresa, from the Norogachi community, dedicates herself to the making of the traditional skirts and rarámuri blouses.
Directed & Photographed by Rena Effendi
Mexican Gastronomy
The beauty of Mexican cuisine, personified. These incredible women include a mezcal distiller, a Zapotec chef preserving pre-hispanic cooking, and two of Mexico City’s most popular restauranteurs.
Abigail Mendoza is a Zapotec chef who runs Tlamanalli, a restaurant in Oaxaca, where she cooks traditional fare. Before Spanish colonization, the Zapotec civilization thrived as a cultural epicenter of Mesoamerica. Abigail is determined to keep those traditions alive by bringing indigenous food to the frontlines of the culinary world.
Abigail in her restaurant, grinding toasted corn in a traditional metate.
Blue corn tortillas accompanies the traditional seguesa that is elaborated with tomato, yellow corn, hoja santa, chilcostle peppers and chicken.
Left: Chilcostle chiles from Abigail Mendoza’s kitchen; Right: Chayote, chilcostle peppers, potatoes, totomoxtle leafs, herbs and rose petals.
Chef and entrepreneur Grabriela Cámara founded her restaurant Contramar 20 years ago with a simple vision: to capture the laid back essence of a beach town in the heart of Mexico City. Today, her passion for marrying tradition with modernity has cemented Contramar as a national institution and spearheaded a cultural and gastronomic movement in Mexico and beyond.
Contramar fish a la talla, one of the insignia plates from the restaurant.
Dough made of flour, squash and pepper in the kitchen of Contramar.
Fish, tomato, onion, garlic, axiote and pepper pasilla, some of the ingredients for the making of fish a la talla.
Graciela Ángeles Carreño is a fourth generation mezcal maker from Santa Catarina Minas, Ocotlán. Through her passion and determination, she challenged the role of female participation in mezcal’s production process. Now, she has turned her small family business into a benchmark of the global mezcal industry.
Left: Agave Knife; Right: Graciela Ángeles
Left: Mezcalerito, Graciela’s mezcal bottle, maguey cut in half and knife. Right: Traditional jícara , orange peels, plantains from Castilla, black mud vase property of Graciela’s grandmother.
Peppers hung on an agave in the palenque Real Minero.
Left: Worker taking a break; Right: Plantains from Castilla.
Chicatana vessel from Andares del Arte Popular; knife, bottle and palm leaf mat, all property of the Real Minero palenque.
Directed by Rena Effendi
Photographed by David Abrehams
Sandra Hurtado lives with her sister, son, mom and nephew. She actively participated in the building of her own house.
The Nashira Village
Founded on the principles of sustainability and self-sufficiency, the Nashira Village is tucked in the Cauca River Valley of Colombia. Made up of over 80 women-led households, the matriarchal community offers safety and stability for women who have experienced violence or displacement as a result of political conflict.
Left: The Virgin of Guadalupe; Right: Ruby is a teenage mom. In Nashira there is a big emphasis for young women to be careful of early pregnancies.
Paula Andre is the granddaughter of one of the leaders of Nashira, Consuelo.
Colombian photojournalist Juanita Escobar captured the self-governed community. Most importantly, the structure offers agency, healing and dignity to women and their families who are able to own their homes, many for the first time.
Left: Evening in Nashira. Right: Valentina, 15 years old, goes to school and is getting ready to enter university.
Twins sitting in the community’s park.
Carmen and her mother came to live during the first stages of construction of the village.
Streets from the small town of Nashira. A couple works with their cart as a means of transportation for wood, furniture, etc.
Consuelo sells empanadas to find daily support, she lives with her three daughters.
Martha works cleaning in the cane farms near the community.
Photographed by Juanita Escobar
Alicia Virgina Quispe Tincuta looks towards the road during the sunrise from El Alto towards Huayna Potosí.
The Climbing Cholitas
The Climbing Cholitas are indigenous Aymara women who hike the Andes in their traditional Bolivian clothing. After years of working as cooks and caretakers for the mostly-male climbers who visit the region, they decided it was their turn to take the hike.
The cholitas dance in the snow.
Domitila Alaña Lusco and Julia Quispe Tincuta carry out a ritual to Pacha Mama, Mother Nature, before entering Huayna Potosí —this is a common act to ask her for permission and protection.
Julia Quispe Tinguta braids her daughter’s hair everyday before sending her to school.
Over the past four years, they have climbed Huayna Potosí, Illimani, Acotango, Pomarape, Parinacota, Sajama, and, now, Aconcagua.
Left: Julia Quispe Tincuta, Alicia Virgina Quispe Tincuta and Alicia Lima Alaña. Right: Domitila Alaña Lusco prepares herself to climb with the other cholitas. Her house also serves as the camping base of Huayna Potosí.
Martha Sonco Catari, Genoveva Ines Alaña Quispe, Domitila Alaña Lusco, Maritza Condori Mamani
Directed & Photographed by Yumna Al - Arashi
Alpino Lake with the Corcovado volcano in the back, in the Corcovado National Park, Chile.
Chile Preservation
Philanthropist Kristine Tompkins recently gave one million acres of private land to the Chilean government, completing the largest ever public land donation in history and building on the extraordinary work of her late husband. Before his death, Doug and Kristine Tompkins established Corcovado National Park, in collaboration with environmental activist Peter Buckley. The gift was matched with 10 million acres from the Chilean government, which created a chain of national parks that now protect most of Patagonia.
Corcovado Volcano in the Corcovado National Park, Chile.
Left: Cabins for visitors near the ferry dock in Caleta Gonzalo. The ferry is the only non aerial connection the park area has with the exterior world.
Aerial view of the mountains in the Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park , Chile.
Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park , Chile.
Left: Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park , Chile. Right: Alerce tree ("Foiitzroy Cupersoides"), similar to redwoods, that are up to 3,000 years old in Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park, Chile.
Areal view of the Yelcho and Delta river at the border of the Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park, Chile.
Aerial view of the Chaitén volcano, Chile. This cupola covered in rhyolite erupted May 2nd of 2008, destroying a city nearby with the same name.
Photographed by George Steinmetz
Frida Escobedo
Frida Escobedo, one of Mexico’s most celebrated contemporary architects, makes work that involves restoring urban spaces with traditional Mexican materials. She was the second woman to design the Serpentine Pavilion and the youngest architect to ever take on the commission.
The mockup for the Centre Pompidou in Paris from the Mexican architect Ernesto Gómez Gallardo.
Left: objects in the office of Frida including a dandelion encapsulated in a sphere, obsidian and a white plaster sculpture, among other things. Right: objects that inspire Frida in her studio: pink geranium, miniature bricks, seed shell, chain sample, wooden sculpture and a tree fungus at the back.
Photographed by David Abrahams
Eugenia and Violeta, from the Series Madres e Hijas, 1995-1998.
Adriana Lestido
In her seminal work, “Madres e Hijas,” Adriana Lestido spent four years documenting the lives of four mothers and their daughters during the Dirty War. The featured portfolio is illustrative of the harsh realities of war and resilience of Argentinian women.
Marta and Naná, from the series Madre e Hijas, 1995-1998
Right: Alma y Maura, from the series Madre e Hijas, 1995-1998
Marta and Naná, from the series Madre e Hijas, 1995-1998
Madre e hija de Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires, 1982.
Left: Marta and Naná, from the series Madre e Hijas, 1995-1998l; Right: Autorretrato, 1995.
Eugenia and Violeta, from the Series Madres e Hijas, 1995-1998.
Photographed by Adriana Lestido
For Vogue Mexico and Latin America’s 20th anniversary issue, we celebrated women who are impacting local culture, politics and sport. We conceived, researched, art directed and produced six cover stories for an unprecedented special issue of the magazine that focused on roles models, not fashion models.
Click to view stories ↓
Lorena Ramirez
María Lorena Ramírez is a 25-year-old Tarahumara runner who has been winning long-distance marathons against both men and women around the world.
Lorena poses from one of the highest peaks of the canyon of Sinforosa, known as the queen of the canyons in the Tarahumara mountain range.
Lorena runs along side her sister Talina.
Lorena with her sister Talina and her brother Antonio.
Antonio's feet.
The Tarahumara, an indigenous group from Chihuahua, are known for their long distance running abilities. Historically, running was a necessity to communicate between distant settlements throughout the Sierra Tarahumara. Today, María Lorena Ramírez’s innate talent and endurance brings global attention to her community.
La señora María Teresa dedicates herself to the making of the traditional skirts and rarámuri blouses.
Directed & Photographed by Rena Effendi
Mexican Gastronomy
The beauty of Mexican cuisine, personified. These incredible women include a mezcal distiller, a Zapotec chef preserving pre-hispanic cooking, and two of Mexico City’s most popular restauranteurs.
Abigail Mendoza is a Zapotec chef who runs Tlamanalli, a restaurant in Oaxaca, where she cooks traditional fare. Before Spanish colonization, the Zapotec civilization thrived as a cultural epicenter of Mesoamerica. Abigail is determined to keep those traditions alive by bringing indigenous food to the frontlines of the culinary world.
Blue corn tortillas accompanies the traditional seguesa that is elaborated with tomato, yellow corn, hoja santa, chilcostle peppers and chicken.
Abigail in her restaurant, grinding toasted corn in a traditional metate.
Chilcostle chiles from Abigail Mendoza’s kitchen
Chayote, chilcostle peppers, potatoes, totomoxtle leafs, herbs and rose petals.
Chef and entrepreneur Grabriela Cámara founded her restaurant Contramar 20 years ago with a simple vision: to capture the laid back essence of a beach town in the heart of Mexico City. Today, her passion for marrying tradition with modernity has cemented Contramar as a national institution and spearheaded a cultural and gastronomic movement in Mexico and beyond.
Contramar fish a la talla, one of the insignia plates from the restaurant.
Dough made of flour, squash and pepper in the kitchen of Contramar.
Fish, tomato, onion, garlic, axiote and pepper pasilla, some of the ingredients for the making of fish a la talla.
Graciela Ángeles Carreño is a fourth generation mezcal maker from Santa Catarina Minas, Ocotlán. Through her passion and determination, she challenged the role of female participation in mezcal’s production process. Now, she has turned her small family business into a benchmark of the global mezcal industry.
Agave Knife.
Graciela Ángeles
Mezcalerito, Graciela’s mezcal bottle, maguey cut in half and knife.
Traditional jícara , orange peels, plantains from Castilla, black mud vase property of Graciela’s grandmother.
Peppers hung on an agave in the palenque Real Minero.
Plantains from Castilla.
Worker taking a break.
Chicatana vessel from Andares del Arte Popular; knife, bottle and palm leaf mat, all property of the Real Minero palenque.
Directed by Rena Effendi
Photographed by David Abrehams
Sandra Hurtado lives with her sister, son, mom and nephew. She actively participated in the building of her own house.
The Nashira Village
Founded on the principles of sustainability and self-sufficiency, the Nashira Village is tucked in the Cauca River Valley of Colombia. Made up of over 80 women-led households, the matriarchal community offers safety and stability for women who have experienced violence or displacement as a result of political conflict.
Paula Andre is the granddaughter of one of the leaders of Nashira, Consuelo.
The Virgin of Guadalupe
Colombian photojournalist Juanita Escobar captured the self-governed community. Most importantly, the structure offers agency, healing and dignity to women and their families who are able to own their homes, many for the first time.
Valentina, 15 years old, goes to school and is getting ready to enter university.
Evening in Nashira.
Streets from the small town of Nashira.
Ruby is a teenage mom. In Nashira there is a big emphasis for young women to be careful of early pregnancies.
Twins sitting in the community’s park.
Martha works cleaning in the cane farms near the community.
Carmen and her mother came to live during the first stages of construction of the village.
Consuelo sells empanadas to find daily support, she lives with her three daughters.
Photographed by Juanita Escobar
Alicia Virgina Quispe Tincuta looks towards the road during the sunrise from El Alto towards Huayna Potosí.
The Climbing Cholitas
The Climbing Cholitas are indigenous Aymara women who hike the Andes in their traditional Bolivian clothing. After years of working as cooks and caretakers for the mostly-male climbers who visit the region, they decided it was their turn to take the hike.
The cholitas dance in the snow.
Domitila Alaña Lusco and Julia Quispe Tincuta carry out a ritual to Pacha Mama, Mother Nature, before entering Huayna Potosí —this is a common act to ask her for permission and protection.
Julia Quispe Tinguta braids her daughter’s hair everyday before sending her to school.
Domitila Alaña Lusco prepares herself to climb with the other cholitas. Her house also serves as the camping base of Huayna Potosí.
Over the past four years, they have climbed Huayna Potosí, Illimani, Acotango, Pomarape, Parinacota, Sajama, and, now, Aconcagua.
(from left to right) Martha Sonco Catari, Genoveva Ines Alaña Quispe, Domitila Alaña Lusco, Maritza Condori Mamani
Julia Quispe Tincuta, Alicia Virgina Quispe Tincuta and Alicia Lima Alaña
Martha Sonco Catari, Genoveva Ines Alaña Quispe, Domitila Alaña Lusco, Maritza Condori Mamani
Directed & Photographed by Yumna Al - Arashi
Alpino Lake with the Corcovado volcano in the back, in the Corcovado National Park, Chile.
Chile Preservation
Philanthropist Kristine Tompkins recently gave one million acres of private land to the Chilean government, completing the largest ever public land donation in history and building on the extraordinary work of her late husband. Before his death, Doug and Kristine Tompkins established Corcovado National Park, in collaboration with environmental activist Peter Buckley. The gift was matched with 10 million acres from the Chilean government, which created a chain of national parks that now protect most of Patagonia.
Corcovado Volcano in the Corcovado National Park, Chile.
Cabins for visitors near the ferry dock in Caleta Gonzalo. The ferry is the only non aerial connection the park area has with the exterior world.
Aerial view of the mountains in the Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park , Chile.
Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park , Chile.
Alerce tree ("Foiitzroy Cupersoides"), similar to redwoods, that are up to 3,000 years old in Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park, Chile.
Areal view of the Yelcho and Delta river at the border of the Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park, Chile.
Aerial view of the Chaitén volcano, Chile. This cupola covered in rhyolite erupted May 2nd of 2008, destroying a city nearby with the same name.
Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park , Chile.
Photographed by George Steinmetz
Frida Escobedo
Frida Escobedo, one of Mexico’s most celebrated contemporary architects, makes work that involves restoring urban spaces with traditional Mexican materials. She was the second woman to design the Serpentine Pavilion and the youngest architect to ever take on the commission.
The mockup for the Centre Pompidou in Paris from the Mexican architect Ernesto Gómez Gallardo.
Objects in the office of Frida including a dandelion encapsulated in a sphere, obsidian and a white plaster sculpture, among other things.
Objects that inspire Frida in her studio: pink geranium, miniature bricks, seed shell, chain sample, wooden sculpture and a tree fungus at the back.
Photographed by David Abrahams
Eugenia and Violeta, from the Series Madres e Hijas, 1995-1998.
Adriana Lestido
In her seminal work, “Madres e Hijas,” Adriana Lestido spent four years documenting the lives of four mothers and their daughters during the Dirty War. The featured portfolio is illustrative of the harsh realities of war and resilience of Argentinian women.
Marta and Naná, from the series Madre e Hijas, 1995-1998
Marta and Naná, from the series Madre e Hijas, 1995-1998
Madre e hija de Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires, 1982.
Alma y Maura, from the series Madre e Hijas, 1995-1998
Marta and Naná, from the series Madre e Hijas, 1995-1998.
Autorretrato, 1995.
Eugenia and Violeta, from the Series Madres e Hijas, 1995-1998.
Photographed by Adriana Lestido