The Dome Is Where the Heart Is

A Hallmark of Middle Eastern Architecture Helps Muslims Orient Themselves Toward Mecca, and One Another

The green dome of the Omar ibn Al-Khattab mosque in Los Angeles interrupts the low skyline with a quiet gravitas. The mosque has been here since 1982, next door to the University of Southern California, its minaret a beacon for the Muslim community that clogs Exposition Boulevard with traffic every Friday afternoon for congregational prayers. When I was younger, this was where my community held funerals and weddings, Ramadan dinners, and Eid celebrations. At sunset, we gathered in the great prayer hall, in the glow of dying sunlight and fluorescent …

Spinning the Story of Their Culture

The Wixárika People of Western Mexico Developed a Vibrant Way to Preserve Their Psychedelic Spiritual Beliefs

Psychedelic drugs, anthropology, art, commerce, 1960s counterculture, and indigenous culture collide in the stunningly vibrant and intricate yarn paintings of the Wixárika people of Western Mexico. On one level, these …

On the Road to Tepeyac, Guadalupe’s Got Their Backs

Alinka Echeverría’s Photographs of Religious Pilgrims Question What an Image Really Is

Alinka Echeverría’s The Road To Tepeyac, a series of photographs of pilgrims to Mexico’s famed Basilica de Guadalupe, is an invitation to think about altars, embodiment, and visibility.

Alinka and I …