Join partners Caro and Gwen at the Atlantic Ocean in Miami Beach: a sacred site of connection and rebirth. Caro Gutiérrez is a graphic designer and bassist for the band Cumbiamba, bringing a visual and sonic sensibility shaped by Miami’s queer culture and their upbringing in Barranquilla, Colombia (see more of their work at carogutz.com). Their partner and creative collaborator Gwen Mustelier meets them in that same current: two artists and water babies who fell in love at the sea.

For this shoot with photographer, textile artist and Chromat founder Bex McCharen, Caro and Gwen modeled Chromat’s swimwear in navy wave jaquard. The resulting images were then printed onto fabric and transformed into a quilt for the latest issue of LOHI Magazine. The quilt is part of McCharen's ongoing textile series Queer Atlantics, exploring oceanic intimacy and queer embodiment in Florida's waterways.

Together, Caro and Gwen move through the world, and the water, with an intuitive sense of trust and play. What emerges in this exchange is a portrait of intimacy shaped by the sea: a place where their connection deepens and expands beyond the limits of daily life. 

Bex McCharen, Dissolve (2026) Quilted photographs inkjet printed on cotton, embroidery thread. 42 in x 27 in

Caro wears the Mica Top and Gwen wears the Airdrop Tie Top and Strata Bottom in Navy Wave

How does the ocean play a part in your relationship with each other? 

Gwen: The ocean is like a reset button. Like whenever we have a bad day or we're feeling overwhelmed by just the minutia of daily life. We always go to the ocean, go to the beach, but even just sitting in front of it and watching the sunset is kind of a reminder that all of those little problems are not as big as they seem and that the world is so much vaster than what we go through. It also helps reset our nervous system and cleanse off all the negativity. 

Caro: I think about when we first started dating: there were a lot of grandiose moments near the ocean. One time we were swimming and then there was a double rainbow right over the water. We watched the sunrise and we also watched a crazy moonrise on the water and swam in the moon water. It's always brought us somewhere else. It’s a portal. 

How does your body change once you're in the ocean? 

Caro: I love feeling buoyant and I love letting myself get taken by the current and allowing myself to flow freely. And also when I'm submerged underwater, the aquified sounds, or lack thereof, in the ocean are their own sensory experience. 

Gwen: The weightlessness of being in the ocean makes me feel like I'm floating, like I'm just a little bubble. It allows me to leave my corporeal form and it's kind of like a trust exercise.

If you trust that you're not going to drown, if you trust the ocean, she holds you and carries you. 

How would you describe the energy between everyone in the water at the shoot? 

It was really great. It felt like just going to the beach with your friends. Like there's sort of this just like joy and playfulness and despite the water being really cold and us getting tired towards the end. It was nice to just play together and hold each other and play with the lights and look at the current - it was great.

Do you feel different when you come out of the water and when you want in? 

Caro: I definitely always feel lighter in a spiritual and in a physical sense. And the weight that I might be holding inside always feels lifted after going for a swim. And it's also just very cleansing. I love having a moment of reflection and feeling grounded once I come out.

Gwen: Yeah, I think the ocean has healing properties. It sort of washes away everything. It also is a rebirth of starting anew. It just puts everything into perspective.

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Credits

Photographer: Bex McCharen

Models: Caro Gutiérrez, Gwen Mustelier, Luu Eixarch, Halley Böhm

Production: Ann Hyett, Chris Menendez

Movement Consultant: Sandy Heyaime

Behind the Scenes Videography: Sacha Franks

Lighting Assistant: Acari Saavedra, Halley Böhm

Shot in North Shore Park, Miami Beach

 

Dissolve quilt commissioned by LoHI Magazine for Issue 5 is accompanied by a poem by Mikah Amani

Get Issue 5 here

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