citylikeyou — Christchurch / Erin Lee

Erin, nomadic being inspired by the unknown. Based as a freelance photographer for 5 years in Mexico and after a recent project in North Africa, Erin has recently returned to a base in Australia. Erin’s work applies environmental portraiture with landscapes and habitats to break the stereotypes which surround her subjects.

https://www.erinleephotography.com

Photographer

Current city: Mexico City

Other cities: Melbourne

erinleephotography.com

Mexico City / Bar

Mami Slut is one of the only dance parties in Mexico City with a mission to have decent music at queer friendly parties, Latin beats. Started by DJ Travieza and La Mendoza, the monthly celebration at Bahia Bar has become a premier gathering point for queer folks looking for a safe space to grind to reggaeton, cumbia, dembow, and basically anything other than the house music and Madonna songs that dominate the city's gay parties.

Mexico City / Music Venue

Plaza Garibaldi, home to Mexico City’s mariachis. Located along one of the city’s main avenues, Eje Central a few blocks from the Fine Arts Palace. At all hours of the day and night, mariachi bands can be found playing or soliciting gigs from visitors to the Plaza, or on the main avenue trying to get picked up and taken to house parties to play. A must see if you are in the city centre.

Mexico City / Other

Entering Santa Fe, Mexico City. Santa Fe is one of Mexico City's major business districts, located in the west part of the city, consisting of countless high-rise buildings that tower over Latin America's largest shopping mall. Built over existing landfills, several layers of sand was poured over millions of tons of garbage before constructions began. Many original residents of the outlying suburbs were evicted and forced to the outskirts seen here.

Mexico City / Event

Passion of Christ in Iztapalapa. Iztapalapa, is the most populous of Mexico City's 16 boroughs, an urban sprawl on the eastern edge of Mexico City, home to nearly two million people and one of the city's lowest-income areas. Every year a huge numbers of additional visitors, an estimated 2-4 million spectators gather to watch the annual Passion of the Christ procession. The area has been plagued by high crime rates and instances of domestic violence for years therefore, the prestige and scale of the Passion procession are a much-needed source of honour for a community that is so often portrayed negatively in the news.

Mexico City / Transport

If you are visiting Mexico City you must use the metro to get a true insight into daily life in the capital city, but be prepared as it is hectic as! Sometimes feels like the entire Mexico City population is in your carriage during rush hour. Used by around 4.4 million passengers on an average weekday, it has 195 stations and more than 226km of track on 12 lines. Trains arrive every two to three minutes during rush hours. At M$5 a ride, it’s one of the world’s cheapest subways and will get you across the entire city. Best option for people watching and striking up conversation with people you may not otherwise talk to.

London / Photographer

Paul Phung is a photographer based in London and a recent graduate from Leeds College of Art, his work has been published in several U.K and international titles. He enjoys collaborating with different artists/designers and is currently working towards bringing out his second zine.

Stockholm / Photographer

Ryan Koopmans (BA, MFA) is a Dutch Canadian photographer interested in the built environment and the societies that are shaped by those environments. Born in Amsterdam (1986) he was raised on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada, completed his undergraduate education at UBC in Vancouver, and in 2012 received a Masters of Fine Art in Photography, Video & Related Media at The School of Visual Arts in New York City. His undergraduate degree in the interdisciplinary practices of geography, art history, and psychology formed the basis for his interest in architecture and the communities living in that architecture. Koopmans is primarily drawn to photographing surreal structures in our world’s megacities and urban landscapes. Formal qualities in their geometry, repetition, and saturation help him illustrate what he terms ‘the poetry of form in interesting locations.’ In essence, his work documents the points of intersection where the natural and manmade converge. He credits his upbringing on Canada’s rugged West Coast, where distances and vistas are vast, as to why he often photographs from a removed perspective, embracing a large sense of scale. Currently based in Stockholm, Sweden, the majority of the year Koopmans travels around the world for both personal and assigned photography & video projects. Please see www.sirenforever.com for his advertising photography.

Zürich / Photographer

I document aspects of life in different forms of appearance using photo and film cameras. Sometimes in Zurich and Marseille, often on the move.

Berlin / Photographer

Photographer and director living in Berlin

New York / Film Director

Filmmaker from NYC

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