DRY MAGAZINE SPOTLIGHTS MARIO TESTINO’S A BEAUTIFUL WORLD
Dry Magazine dedicates its latest cover story to Mario Testino, presenting an extended feature on A Beautiful World, the photographer’s ongoing global project documenting traditional dress, ritual and cultural identity. The issue opens with Testino’s portrait of A Mordoma, Woman of Authority, Viana do Castelo, Portugal, 2023, a work that encapsulates the dignity, lineage and symbolism central to this project.
Written by Antonio Mancinelli, the feature reflects on Testino’s evolution from one of fashion’s defining image-makers to a photographer concerned with preservation, continuity and belonging. The article situates Testino as an artist who once shaped the visual vocabulary of modern glamour and is now turning his gaze toward communities whose traditions risk being obscured by globalisation. It describes A Beautiful World as “a visual liturgy” and “a sentimental atlas of minor cultures,” emphasising the project’s blend of beauty, anthropology and poetic portraiture.
The interview traces the origins of the project to Testino’s fascination with Peruvian costume archives, expanding into more than thirty countries photographed to date. Testino discusses the relationship between clothing and identity, the nuances of light and colour across cultures, and the urgency of documenting traditions at a moment of rapid cultural change. He reflects on working with communities unfamiliar with the camera, the responsibility of representing them with accuracy and respect, and the shift from fashion’s speed to a more contemplative artistic mission.
Dry Magazine’s edit includes images from across the series, from the Pende people of the Democratic Republic of Congo to Dervishes in Iraqi Kurdistan, Afro-Brazilian women in Bahia, Roman Catholic penitents in Guatemala and beyond. Each portrait underscores the project’s central inquiry: how clothing, ritual and gesture articulate a shared yet diverse human experience.
Across the feature, Testino speaks candidly about authorship, memory, digital culture and the shifting meaning of photography today. He frames A Beautiful World not as an endpoint but as an ongoing journey, driven by curiosity and the desire to preserve visual traditions for future generations.
