No Mamés: Mayan Toledano’s Tender Portraits of Mexico City’s LGBTQ+ Creatives

Although she lives in New York, Israeli-Moroccan photographer Mayan Toledano feels at home in Mexico City. So when she was selected for the Creator Labs visual arts incubator, a partnership between Google and LENS, that’s where she went. “I’ve been going to Mexico City a lot in the past three years and find it a creative home for my work and personal life,” she says. “From my first visit there I felt at home, and was drawn back because of the people and the culture, which feels super diverse and accessible across ages, race, gender, and sexual identity. It is a city that celebrates all—at least in pockets of it—and you can see it in public spaces like the many parks and salsa clubs around the city.”

The result is No Mamés, a visual essay that celebrates the city’s LGBTQ+ community. “As a queer artist, I naturally want to tell stories of my community, and for this I chose to highlight 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 and fantasy of each of the subjects through their work and personal identity.”

Toledano’s photos find a range of the city’s inhabitants in their homes and bedrooms, lending an intimate and tender feel to the portraits that reflect the photographer’s real-life relationship with many of the people she works to capture. Toledano has captured a vibrant web of people, from a DJ to a drag performer, who collaborate with one another, and also care for each other. See an excerpt from No Mamés below.

Casting: Adrian Fierro
Makeup: Karla Donato
Styling: Samantha Rodriguez