José López began his printmaking work in Chiapas, the mountainous region near Mexico’s border with Guatemala. There he immersed himself in the world of mezcal and designed intricate labels for a local mezcal brand. Centuries old, mezcal culture is very much alive in the villages, each distilling its own distinct flavor based on the particular combination of agave and the type of wood used to smoke. Mexican mythology has it that a lightning bolt struck an agave plant, set it on fire, and liquid mezcal was the result. Today López lives and creates in Torreón, Coahuila in the north of Mexico where his botanical printworks capture some of the 30 different Agave plants of rural Mexico that can become distillates of the prized mezcal.