#PictureThis: Phyllis Galembo’s New Book “Mexico, Masks & Rituals” Blends the Ancient with Pop

My old pal, photographer, Phyllis Galembo has a new book; Mexico, Masks & Rituals (Radius Books/D.A.P.) A 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, Galembo has photographs in numerous public and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library.

Galembo has shot masks as well as a book of amazing vintage Haloween costumes. She likes the hidden in plain view. Now she’s turned her lens to the mask cultures of Mexico. Since 1985, Galembo has traveled to shoot sites of ritual dress in Africa and the Caribbean. In this latest body of work, she captures Mexican cultural performances with her direct, straightforward portraiture, that seems to blend the anthropologist style of master Irving Penn with an ancient/modern pop sensibility all her own.

Masking is a tradition by which the participants transcend the physical world and enter a spiritual realm using masks, costumes and body paint to transform.

Text is by Sergio Rodríguez Blanco, George Otis. You can pre-oder the book now. It’s out in late April Artbooks just presented Galembo at the AIPAD Photography Show 2019 where she signed copies.