“Young people aren’t interesting these days.” It was this sentiment, heard over again from older groups, that artist Pieter Henket cites as the inspiration for his latest project. Birds of Mexico City is a collection of portraits focusing on young Mexicans who are redefining contemporary expressions of gender, identity, tradition and spirituality. The book is a love letter to the next generation – their fearlessness, self-expression and refusal to compromise. As Henket writes in the introduction: “I thought: how incredible that these kids love and respect themselves enough to step into the world exactly as they are, without worrying what anyone might say. It brought me back to my own youth. I was a closeted gay teenager in the Netherlands. My family was kind and open-minded, but the society around me was conservative…years later, in New York City, I found myself surrounded by young people who were light-years ahead of me at that age. They expressed themselves openly, bravely, without apology. I admired them deeply and began to call them Birds – free in their existence.” Those early days in New York gave way to his wider project in Mexico, with images that are now the focus of a new book from Damiani.
This project is the product of collaboration. Images were made with queer stylist and costume designer, Chino Castilla, as well as writer and poet Renata Juárez Huerdo. The narrative structure of the book evolved through collaboration with Justin Gaspar. As a young Filipino American raised within a Catholic tradition, Gaspar recognised resonances within the images, traces of ritual, symbolism and a fluid interplay between masculine and feminine identities. This is not to mention the subjects themselves, who helped with the construction of costumes and the writing of poetry to accurately reflect their identities and experiences. In working closely with collaborators from different cultural backgrounds and perspectives, the project reflects the very ideas it explores, celebrating the possibility of seeing one another clearly.
The interplay of masculine and feminine is masterful from Henket. His imagery is instantly recognisable but subverted in ways that are not overdone or cliché. The first chapter, The Divine, takes femininity as its subject. Many of the costumes are inspired by real people, the mothers, grandmothers and neighbours of designer Castilla. In Confinamiento, a young woman holds the brace inspired by one once worn and painted by Frida Kahlo – “a relic of pain transformed into a declaration of survival.” In La Mujer, a voluptuous figure stands in a man’s “lucha libre” mask, her body unapologetically her own. “The mask, once a symbol of masculine bravado, becomes her crown – a statement that power no longer belongs to one gender but to anyone who dares to claim it.” Meanwhile, masculine is positioned as a spectrum of light and shadow, an opportunity for self-expression and exploration rather than something that confines.
Tradition runs through the entire book. Stylist Castilla worked with traditional pieces from markets, garments from Mexican designers and elements from daily life to echo iconography that would be familiar to local people. Yet, customs and rituals are upended, reinvented for a new era. Woven hats form elaborate costumes, baskets adorn women’s shoulders and heads, plants become dresses. These marks of culture and identity become something new, forming part of an alternative culture and self-expression. It’s a delicate balance to strike, but Henket and Castilla manage to capture the nuance of honouring tradition without being weighed down by its expectations. As Henkel writes: “The work celebrates continuity: how identity flows through crafts, how culture survives through the ordinary, how resilience can appear as colour, pattern and care. In these images, Mexico is not scenery: it is heartbeat.”
In putting together Birds of Meixco City, Henket has succeeded in producing an unabashed celebration of joy. Each costume, individual and shot adds to a rich and vibrant tapestry, acknowledging custom and yet driving forward into new terrain. Readers are invited to a vibrant world, and encouraged to think of what is possible when we free ourselves – and each other – from society’s expectations.
Birds of Mexico City is published by Damiani Books: damianibooks.com
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
1. Flor de Mayo, (2021). Series: Birds of Mexico City. Photographer: Pieter Henket. Subject: Carmen Serratos.
2. Confinamiento (2021). Series: Birds of Mexico City. Photographer: Pieter Henket. Subject: Mariana Arias.
3. La Familia (2021). From the series Birds of Mexico City. Photographer: Pieter Henket. Subject: Vida Mala, Eduardo Dominguez, Brandon Michael.
4. La Raizl (2021). Series: Birds of Mexico City. Photographer: Pieter Henket. Subject: Otokani Awen.
5. Tatuajes ocultos (2021). Series: Birds of Mexico City. Photographer: Pieter Henket. Subject: Tania Aries.
