DAZED #281 Autumn 2023

‘Beyond Borders’ issue of Dazed goes in search of the people breaking new creative ground in every corner of the world in 2023. Redrawing the map on our cover set: Rosalia, the Spanish pop star whose artistry seemingly knows no bounds; and Spice, bringing the heat as the first dancehall artist to front the magazine in its 23-year history.

It’s an issue that, underlining this new global era of Dazed, celebrates the creatives whose willingness to go beyond the same staid reference points keeps the culture alive. The risk-takers and rule-breakers who are “always taking chances”, as Rick Rubin says of Rosalia in the issue.

Inside, we salute the second coming of Afrobeats’ most playful star, Amaarae: author Jamal Jordan reflects on the brutal, beautiful filmmaking of Kokomo City, a tragicomic account of four trans sex workers holding firm in NYC and Atlanta; painter and photographer, Caleb Kwarteng Prah, swaps dukes for cab drivers in his Afrocentric artworks; Gen-Z agony aunt Madeline Argy talks relationship soft-launches and hot-girl summers in a story lensed by Ewen Spencer; we meet the Haitian designers pushing back against pepe, an accidental style that shines a harsh light on our disposable-garms addiction.

Elsewhere, we journey to the favelas of Brazil, where an explosion in e-sports offers is offering an unlikely path out of poverty; we focus on Kanu Behl’s Agra and a new strain of cinema tearing up taboos in Indian society; and we raid the vaults at London’s newest creative mecca, Young Space, home to the UK indie label behind FKA twigs and The xx.