Phyllis Galembo: Mexico, Masks & Rituals

A showcase of Phyllis Galembo's extraordinary photographs of the costume, ritual and traditions of masquerade Mexico Phyllis Galembo has travelled all over the globe to sites of ritual masquerade. In Africa, the Caribbean, and now Mexico, she captures cultural performances with a subterranean political edge. Using a direct, unaffected portrait style, Galembo captures her subjects informally posed but often strikingly attired in traditional or ritualistic dress. Attuned to a moment's collision of past, present and future, Galembo finds the timeless elegance and dignity of her subjects. Masking is a complex, mysterious, and profound tradition in which the participants transcend the physical world and enter the spiritual realm. In her vibrant images, Galembo exposes an ornate code of political, artistic, theatrical, social and religious symbolism and commentary. Galembo highlights the creativity of the individuals morphing into a fantastical representation of themselves, having cobbled together materials gathered from the immediate environment to idealize their vision of mythical figures. While still pronounced in their personal identity, the subject's intentions are rooted in the larger dynamics of religious, political and cultural affiliation. Establishing these connections is a hallmark of Galembo's work.

About the Author :
Phyllis Galembo received her MFA from University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1977, and was a professor in the Fine Arts Department of SUNY Albany from 1978 to 2018. Galembo's photographs are included in numerous public and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library; she was a Guggenheim fellow in 2014, and also received a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She lives in New York City.

Review :
As societies change and practices disappear or are transformed, [Galembo's] portraits not only retain the details of cultural production, they also serve as a continuing celebration of creativity and a reminder of the value of human diversity. [Mexico Masks Rituals] illuminates the transformative power of costume and ritual. Mexico Mask Rituals amounts to a rich survey of a nation’s cultural and religious practices, highlighting performative ceremonial rites that have adapted to the present while celebrating the past. Mexico: Masks | Rituals offers vivid portraits of people costumed as Easter Wise Men and shepherds, as jaguars and foxes and tigers, as demons, as skeleton women in elaborate gowns, as indigenous peoples resisting Spanish colonists. [...] Dazzling masks of contemporary Mexican festivals. Mexico, Masks | Rituals – advances the artist’s passion in a concentrated study of celebrations that blend colonialist and indigenous socio-religious practices in Mexico. Mexico Masks/Rituals restores the mask — and the political, cultural, religious and social messages it can telegraph — from tourist commodity to its role as an artifact of ritual and celebration. In a gorgeous, fascinating photographic survey of Mexico’s masking practices, Galembo captures her subjects suspended between past, present and future, with their religious, political and cultural affiliations—their personal and collective identifications—displayed on their bodies. Galembo’s book is a riot of colour – celebrating the individuality, creativity and craftsmanship that goes into these masks and costumes. Organised by festival, each collection of photographs is prefaced with text explaining the customs and figures that appear in each ritual. Bright, theatrical, uncanny at times, but full of life, it’s a fascinating, beautiful study. Mexico Masks & Rituals features the country’s cultural performances tinged with a subterranean political edge in the form of intricately detailed, colorful masks and costumes. Students of ethnography, dance, and even costume design or fashion will value this title. The intensely colorful images, aided by the attractive graphic design, will captivate photography enthusiasts. ...Galembo’s images offer an awe-inspiring counterpoint, a rare bridge onto a culture in which creativity and self-expression are close to the divine. Brought together in a new book, Phyllis Galembo: Mexico, Masks & Rituals, the fascinating survey captures cultural performances with a subterranean political edge. In her new book Mexico Masks Rituals, Phyllis Galembo photographs the captivating art made exclusively for ritual. Mexico, Masks & Rituals, a book that compiles ten year’s worth of her captivating photography in the country. In her vibrant colour photographs, Galembo highlights the artistry of the performers, how they use materials from their immediate environment to morph into a fantastical representation of themselves and an idealised vision of a mythical figure. Delving into the ritualistic aspects of the native Mestizo, Galembo helps to retrieve a deeper appreciation for the transculturation of the natives.