Enrique Leyva

Enrique Leyva’s proud and colourful portraiture has made him an in-demand fashion photographer featured in international editions of Vogue, GQ and Esquire. Celebrating diverse beauty in Mexico and beyond its borders, he has challenged the status quo in the local fashion industry by casting underrepresented Latin Americans as muses and advancing opportunities for Indigenous talent on the global stage. Following a milestone shoot for Vogue Mexico’s July 2020 issue, which crowned Karen Vega the world’s first Indigenous Oaxacan model to grace the magazine’s cover, Leyva co-founded Talento Espina, a modelling agency dedicated to representing Indigenous Mexicans. 

Born in Oaxaca, Leyva started his photographic journey when he was just 16 years old. In the years since, he has carved out a niche straddling fashion, documentary and portrait photography, with a focus on the culture of his native country and its Latin American neighbours. His work, which often foregrounds Indigenous subjects against urban and wild landscapes, has attracted fashion clients including Dior, Levi’s and Carolina Herrera. Through both his photography and his pioneering modelling agency, Leyva has helped open the door for greater representation of Latin American faces globally.