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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.
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.
Show moreA 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.
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.
Show morePhyllis 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.
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.
*Photograph*
[Mexico Masks Rituals] illuminates the transformative power of
costume and ritual.
*Something Curated*
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.
*L'Officiel*
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.
*Wonderland: Boston*
Mexico, Masks | Rituals – advances the artist’s passion in a
concentrated study of celebrations that blend colonialist and
indigenous socio-religious practices in Mexico.
*In the In-Between*
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.
*NPR*
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.
*Square Magazine*
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.
*Tatler*
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.
*Plain Magazine*
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.
*Library Journal*
...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.
*Vogue*
Brought together in a new book, Phyllis Galembo: Mexico, Masks &
Rituals, the fascinating survey captures cultural performances with
a subterranean political edge.
*Creative Boom*
In her new book Mexico Masks Rituals, Phyllis Galembo photographs
the captivating art made exclusively for ritual.
*Huck*
Mexico, Masks & Rituals, a book that compiles ten year’s worth of
her captivating photography in the country.
*AnOther*
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.
*Guardian*
Delving into the ritualistic aspects of the native Mestizo, Galembo
helps to retrieve a deeper appreciation for the transculturation of
the natives.
*Musee*
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