Nina Manandhar photographs Mexico City's newspaper sellers

Photographer and “pop-ethnographer” Nina Manandhar may usually be found strolling around the backstreets of Soho with her mobile archiving unit or making friends with the residents of London’s most well-known estates, but her latest set of images come all the way from Mexico City. The series, titled Reforma, exists as a loose counterpart to the TFL series that Nina made for LAW magazine which looked at street and public workwear.

“These images were taken on a trip to Mexico City last month,” Nina tells us. “From the first day that I arrived walking around the streets I noticed the news sellers with their emblazoned uniforms, you could hardly fail to notice the flash of colours in the Mexican sun, so made the time to shoot on them before I left. I like the way they have words and slogans all over their suits, they are like walking newspapers themselves. Everyone I approached was pretty open to being photographed and keen to show off their colours. It reminded me of 90s Benetton. It’s real streetwear for work: bright colours, layers and swag bags.”

“When I did more research about one of the papers, Reforma, I found out it has an interesting history,” Nina continues. “It’s sold on the streets because the Mexican paper carrier unions initially tried to ban it from news stands when it was launched in 1994 because it published more challenging political viewpoints. The paper has an ‘open journalism’ model, made up of editorial boards which contain members of the public alongside politicians and members of NGOs.”