Zachary Reid

When he's in the mood to talk, which is almost always, Zachary Reid will want to hear about you first. Push him to talk about himself, and he’ll make a few jokes, then probably start rambling on about the importance of world travel (he covers some of that in his book, "Cuba, More or Less"). If pushed, he’ll mumble his way through something on his paintings, collages or furniture, which is getting most of his attention these days. If anyone's listening, he'll also talk about wherever he's headed next, most likely in search of proof that whatever he keeps reading in the news is only part of the story. In recent years, he’s found that from Vietnam to Morocco to Macedonia, up the Eastern Seaboard and into the otherworldly lands of the Southwest. Anywhere he can slip off to for a few days, he will. No matter the locale, he's always in the market for a funny story, visual inspiration and a good cup of coffee.

(Photograph: self portrait in a mirror in Frida Kahlo's studio in her Blue House, Coyoacan, Mexico, May 2017)