The Days of the Dead by John Greenleigh with text by Rosalind Beimler was the first photography book published about Mexico’s annual festival for the dead. First released in 1991 by Collins Publishers, then republished in 1998 by Pomegranate Press, this award-winning book remained in print for 24 years, and sold over 40,000 copies.
The author of the text and my collaborator on the project, Roz Beimler, was a scholar, writer, and painter who - in 1940 at the age of 19 - left her home in Los Angeles to move to Mexico to join the bustling artist community of painters and muralists that included Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. She was also my aunt. Her extensive knowledge of Mexican culture and traditions was invaluable to the project, as we traveled in her small white Volkswagen Golf through tiny villages and larger cities on four photography trips through four Mexican states - Michoacan, Oaxaca, Morelos, and Mexico.
I hope you enjoy the photos. Copies of The Days of the Dead are still available used on Amazon and wherever out of print books are sold.
