Photographer Marcos López

A man with small hands in the Mexico City airport carries a mermaid under his arm. She is a large piece of handicraft — surely five feet long — her curves have the rough look of something sketched by a child. This Mexican mermaid doesn’t have a narrow waist, shimmering haunches, or breasts decorously covered by long blonde tresses. She has only the strange exuberance of a stiff tail. And a curl of crimson on her lips.
“Take care of my mermaid, please,” begs the man as he passes her into the hands of the airport personnel. The Mexican mermaid smiles foolishly, at anyone, at no one, as she disappears — silent — among the bags bound for Buenos Aires.

                                         >>>Marcos Lopez