Rose pink beaches, rainbow-tinted seas inhabited by amorphous bodies, rust red mountains rising into azure skies, fruit markets bustling with hard working traders, and flowers. Lots of flowers – on graves, behind curtains, in an empty jalapeño can and spilling out of pick-up trucks. In bloom, dying, plastic. Marigolds, poinsettias, roses. Welcome to Felechazo, Pia Riverola’s debut monograph documenting her decade-long love affair with Mexico.

The Barcelona-born, Mexico City and LA-living artist is renowned for her gentle, warm and intuitive photography that evokes dreamy memories. Her brilliance lies in capturing the splendour and humanity in the mundane. Whether impromptu portraits, epic landscapes, architectural scenes or blink-and-you’d-miss-it minutiae, Riverola’s cinematic images aim to care for the cultures, eco systems and ways of life she has immersed herself in.

“It's the gestures, the moments in between, the sometimes-hidden parts, the rituals of the past, but even more-so the rhythm of the everyday, that reveal the heart and soul of a culture,” Riverola says of what she hopes to express through her romantic practice, which has taken her around the world to shoot for clients such as Loewe, Calvin Klein, Nike, Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. But it’s her adopted home that has fed her lens most deeply since arriving in 2012. “Mexico became my motherland instantly, my guide and my inspiration. Its people and nature nourished me to become my own self, both personally and professionally. I felt part of it from the moment I arrived, but it also challenged me to fight passionately for myself and my beliefs, which marked a path of growth for me. Flechazo is my tribute.”

The book – the title of which means ‘love at first sight’ – traverses Riverola’s encounters from Mazunte and Oaxaca to Acapulco and Ixtapa, each destination steeped in delicate light and nostalgic yearning. And as a finishing touch, a poetic intermezzo by her partner John Reagan adds another layer of feeling to this deeply heartfelt body of work. He writes: ‘There is warmth in the petals and sellers. In competition with each other but never savage. You can not be savage with a flower. A butterfly will not give you the best price. You know me more than I imagine.”

And thanks to Riverola, we know Mexico more intimately, too.

Flechazo is published by Amsterdam’s Homecoming Gallery. Discover it here.