© Harvey Stein
Man with Two Bundles, Wearing Chicago Bulls Sweatshirt, Pátzcuaro, 1999
- New York City-based photographer Harvey Stein spent 18 years visiting and photographing small villages, and festivals in central Mexico. In total, Stein visited the country 14 times between 1993 and 2010.
- Stein was fascinated by the country's traditional culture and unique relationship with death, myth, rituals, and religion. He returned again and again to document the strange, beautiful, and touching aspects of Mexican life.
- Stein has collected his years of work exploring and documenting central Mexico into "Mexico: Between Life and Death" published by Kehrer Verlag in September. The book can be ordered here.
New York-based photographer Harvey Stein first became fascinated with Mexico as a teenager. It was the country's relationship with death, myth, rituals, and religion that drew him in.
As a child, Stein was both afraid of and intrigued by the concept of death. When he began reading about Mexico, he discovered that Mexicans have a far closer relationship with death than Americans, most clearly seen in the culture's reverence for family and elders and the celebration of The Day of the Dead festival.
"It seemed more exciting and romantic in a way than my bland upbringing in Pittsburgh," Stein told Business Insider.
Stein visited the country for the first time in 1993. He was immediately taken with Mexico - the traditional culture, the colorful festivals, and the warm people he met, who he said were "much more open, generous, and emotional" than those he knew in America.
In the 18 years following Stein's first foray south, he visited Mexico 14 times. But rather than traverse the entirety of the country or document Mexico's rapidly changing urban hubs like Mexico City, he returned again and again to the small villages and vibrant festivals that form the core of traditional Mexican culture.
"I knew pretty early on what intrigued me about Mexico," said Stein. "The symbols of death, the light and the shadows. I found find skeletons, skulls, and cemeteries to photograph. It was more bizarre and strange to me as an outsider …"
Stein has collected his 18 years of work exploring and documenting Mexico and Mexican culture into "Mexico: Between Life and Death" published by Kehrer Verlag in September. The book can be ordered here.