Travel editor Tracey Minkin takes us on a lit + art adventure.

Raise your hand if you miss travel as much as we do. It’s exactly that unsatisfied wanderlust that inspired us to reach out to travel editor, award-winning writer, and longtime 20x200 collector Tracey Minkin to curate an extra special edition of Literary Gallery. Per usual, these book and art pairings are presented without comment, so their compatibility speaks for itself, but they’re also aligned along a travel theme. Whether drawing on overt or subtle synchronicity, Minkin matched lit and prints that share a sense of place, a feeling of adventure or simply tap into the transformative powers of a change of scenery.

In her role at Coastal Living Magazine, Minkin manages an editorial program revolving around the culture, lifestyle, and communities of America’s coasts, but her love for travel knows no bounds. That passion comes across loud and clear in her Lit Gallery, an artful escape and a welcome invitation to explore the world around us.
— Team 20x200

Pairings are always much more interesting than they appear on the surface, and setting a piece of visual art together with a piece of writing can provoke all kinds of interpretations! With travel and place as my inspiration here, I sought to mine 20x200's expansive point of view with sense of place from the urban to rural, from literal to nearly abstract. From there, I thought metaphorically about books I love and admire that bring place into focus—whether that's through non-fiction, memoir, or fiction—and how they might relate to the visual works. And then I looked for resonances between the two art forms that offered a harmony. Sometimes the pairing might seem obvious ... other times it's a bit more a feeling of somehow belonging together. But I hope they all inspire a desire to explore our wild, provocative world and know it better. — Tracey Minkin

Where I Was From and Welcome

Blue Highways and Evening Sun

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian and Grand Canyon National Park, a free government service

Death in the Andes and Machu Picchu, Holy Mountain series

Pass the Butterworms and The Catalogue of Imaginary Beings, Plate No.42

All the Light We Cannot See and Eiffel Tower, grounds, Exposition Universelle, 1900

Fantasy Island: Colonialism, Exploitation, and the Betrayal of Puerto Rico and Street in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas and Plate 22, Sheet 15, Ancient Courses Mississippi River Meander Belt

Coming of Age in Mississippi: The Classic Autobiography of Growing Up Poor and Black in the Rural South and Juke Joint, Melrose, Louisiana

Monsoon Mansion and Hatō zu 1

The 411 on Tracey Minkin
Tracey Minkin is a writer and editor currently based in New York's Hudson Valley. She has been the travel editor at Coastal Living Magazine, a national publication that celebrates life at the beach, for the last 6 years, but loves travel to any place, anywhere. You can follow her adventures on Instagram at @tracey_minkin.