The New Mexico Oppenheimer Erases

Films and Tourism Campaigns Depict an Empty State That Is In Fact Full of Life

Los Alamos, New Mexico’s tourism website quickly clues visitors into what the city considers its two principal assets. There’s the national laboratory, represented by an illustrated atom, and there are three national parks, represented in an illustrated leaf. Underneath these symbols is the slogan “where discoveries are made.”

In 2021, New Mexico attracted 7.2 billion in tourist dollars. Many visitors come for the leaf: Outdoor recreation added $2.3 billion to the state’s economy that year. Meanwhile, the atom—the state’s nuclear past and present—attracts a subset of tourists who come to visit …

Drawing in the Time of Cut Flowers

On Grief, Loss, and Renewal in the Wake of the Pandemic

My first instinct when my grandma died was to purchase and draw flowers for her. A traditional gesture of sympathy, the flowers seemed fitting—but the circumstances were unprecedented.

It was April …

Shapes of Spring

Tirth Katrodia is an Indian illustrator and visual artist based in London. His studio is called Yatra, which means journey in Sanskrit.

For his Zócalo Sketchbook, Katrodia brings us a vibrant burst of springtime energy. …

Stocking up for the Season

Kadi Franson is an interdisciplinary artist and licensed architect who focuses on ecological resilience in the Anthropocene. Based in Southern Utah, she is also an amateur naturalist and nature columnist …

to us in early winter

when it is time
the sun sets pink on the birch
and it will be winter
we are no stranger than we were
gingered joy will have melted after
icicles …

Blooming Smiles

Keiko Nabila Yamazaki is a Japanese Indonesian illustrator based in New York City. She specializes in vibrant and whimsical illustration, reminiscent of the Western and Japanese cartoons she watched as …