STRONGER TOGETHER
There’s comfort in knowing that life finds a way back into itself. Our natural beauty offers consistent reminders: Trees form tender buds after long winter hibernation. As days stretch in hours, skies appear brighter, and more golden at sundown. Dormant flowers bloom exuberant colors and fragrances as I ponder Trends goals and vision again.
Like many who’ve sought to reimagine life beyond a difficult global transition, I’ve spent a year re imagining mine and the life of Trend Magazine.
Team Trend has spent decades immersed in vision of Trendmagazineglobal.com. Connecting people—locals and visitors alike—to this magnificent place through our unique niche of, art, design, cuisine, and culture.
Trend’s vision and my commitment are revived with this season of renewal and the generous spirit of our communities.
No matter the challenges, the times, the beauty of renewal is that we return to the constants that keep us tethered.
One of the more stabilizing forces is a tapestry of diverse culture and the collective beliefs, values, and goals that give us the strength to face the unknown.
Here in New Mexico, that culture is more inclusive but also more complex than in most places—an amalgam of Native, Spanish, and Anglo values that, while touted from a tourism perspective as an appealing example of tricultural harmony, has always been a bit more fractious than that.
At one level we see how people who once waged war on one another have managed to establish a fragile but productive collaboration, each drawing from the other culture to create a collective ethos and aesthetic that nourish each other.
Social divisions and historical resentments have always played a role in the ongoing struggle to achieve spiritual and cultural stability, and during this past year we’ve seen this phenomenon play out in events close to home.
Issues that have festered quietly for many years have been shifted to the forefront, demanding that unhealed wounds and misrepresentations from the past be addressed forthrightly and with understanding and reconciliation.
On the Santa Fe Plaza, we’ve seen passionate actions and reactions regarding the controversial obelisk, occasioning a long-delayed conversation about historical accuracy versus myth, and how to honor our overlapping cultures while allowing them to tell their own distinct stories.
Trend has long been committed to seeking out and sharing these stories as we celebrate the intertwining artistic traditions that make New Mexico unique, not just in our country but in the world. The accidents and designs of history have informed the cosmologies and aesthetic senses, creating an atmosphere of creativity and innovation that people come from all over to enjoy.
Our state, our country, and humanity in general have reached a moment in time where our very survival depends on our ability to come together, listen to one another, and craft solutions to our collective problems. This requires scrupulous attention to the truth, however painful that might be, and a willingness to cherish our differences rather than resent them.
New Mexico’s art and culture have always served as a unifying and educational force in this regard, and we need that more than ever if we are to successfully navigate the new challenges upon us.
Art can educate, excite, soothe, incite, delight, and provoke new ways of thinking and looking at the world. The stunning achievements of New Mexico artists, from contemporary to traditional, can serve as an example for all people who look to bridge divisions and heal psychic wounds.
It is in this spirit that we will bring you our new issue of Trend in the Summer 2021, a LookBook that showcases the work of many talented photographers and highlights the variety of artistic expression in our region.
In this way, we hope to continue to expand the conversation that has emerged from the ongoing strife, forging new ties and revisiting old ways of thinking that need to be adjusted to our current reality. Viewing our situation through the unflinching eye of our creative community provides us with a mirror that reflects the joy and pain implicit in the human condition. In the end, we all seek to find truth and beauty in the world around us, which can guide the way forward in harmony and unity.
—Cynthia Canyon, Publisher