LETTER EDITOR from the

I BEGAN 2023 with an 8 a.m. email to the CULTURED team suggesting that we ease slowly into 2023 with purpose and intention. Seconds after sending it, an email from Bottega Veneta arrived in my inbox asking if we could collaborate on an event at FOG, San Francisco’s art and design fair, just 10 days later. The answer, somehow, was a resounding yes.

As a publication, CULTURED has never eased slowly into anything—there are never enough hours in the day to cover all of the exciting artists and performers who inspire us, or to host all of the events that reflect our diverse community of partners and collaborators—but those two words, purpose and intention, have guided the publication since its conception. So, it’s only fitting that CULTURED’s first issue of the year is dedicated to an array of talents who are changing the way we think about the world around us, and who are deeply engaged in their practice—be it architecture, film, painting, dance, or poetry.

There’s the method actor Mia Goth, a young visionary who, through her work with some of the most impactful directors of our time, has managed to transform the horror genre for a new generation. She appears on our cover in full Prada, captured by the raw eye of young photographer Rachel Fleminger Hudson at The Palace, the oldest theater in Los Angeles. Mia’s conversation with her close friend and collaborator Kid Cudi reveals an incredible depth of emotion and wisdom, and the images she created with Rachel feel alive—more like film stills than fashion shots.

In addition to Mia and Kid Cudi, this issue is full of cross-disciplinary conversations: the cinematographer Bradford Young tells Arthur Jafa about his next chapter; Laurie Simmons and Molly Ringwald compare notes on transcending their mediums; and Precious Okoyomon and Quintessa Swindell discuss ways of staying grounded. It also features our annual international Young Architects list, which spotlights 10 boundary-breaking individual practitioners and collaborative studios who are reshaping the built environment. The issue climaxes with an ambitious portfolio of actors who are ushering in a new Hollywood era, created with Saint Laurent. Thank you for always bearing witness to our work, and for supporting the best and brightest artists of our time.

Sarah G. Harrelson Founder and Editor-in-Chief @sarahgharrelson Follow us | @cultured_mag