Paul Koudounaris, Memento Mori: The Dead Among Us & Ann Murdy, On the Path of Marigolds

This will be an in-store presentation and we will live stream the evening on Zoom, please register to watch here.

If you are attending in person, for your safety and those around you, we will be requiring all audience members wear a mask.

We invite you to bring your own altar offering to celebrate the life of a loved one that has passed.

Purchase Memento Mori online here.

Purchase On the Path of Marigolds online here.

Or call the store to order either book (505) 988-4226

Memento Mori

Death is universal, but the human response to death varies widely. In Western society, death is usually

medicalized and taboo, and kept apart from the world of the living, while in much of the rest of the world, and for

much of human history, death has commonly been far more integrated into peoples’ daily existence, and human

remains are as much a reminder of life, memento vitae, as of death, memento mori.

Through photographs taken at more than 250 sites in thirty countries over the course of a decade, Memento

Mori surveys the many ways human remains are used in decorative, commemorative, and devotional contexts

around the world. Providing insightful commentary, author Paul Koudounaris takes readers on a macabre but

visually striking tour of unusual sacred sites and traditions: Bolivia’s “festival of the little pug-nosed ones,” where

skulls are festooned with flowers and given cigarettes to smoke and beanie hats to protect them from the weather;

Indonesian families who dress mummies and include them in their household routines; naturally preserved

Buddhist monks; memorials to genocide in Rwanda and Cambodia; and Europe’s great ossuaries.

Now available in a compact hardcover edition, Memento Mori defies taboo to demonstrate how the dead

continue to be present in the lives of people everywhere, offering messages of hope and salvation, and that the

realms of the living and the dead are nowhere near as distinct as contemporary Western society would have us

believe.

About the Author

Paul Koudounaris received his doctorate from the art history department at UCLA. His other books include The

Empire of Death and Heavenly Bodies. He lives in Tucson, Arizona

On the Path of Marigolds

Photographer Ann Murdy has been documenting the celebrations around Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) in Mexico for more than twenty years. On the Path of Marigolds: Living Traditions of Mexico’s Day of the Dead, is a bilingual book that features nearly 100 photographs illustrating Dia de Los Muertos celebrations and remembrances in Huaquechula, Puebla, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca and the communities around Lake Patzcuaro, Michoacan —along with a conversation between her and Cesáro Moreno, Director of Visual Arts and Chief Curator of the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, and an essay by Mexican-American writer Denise Chávez.  As Murdy’s hauntingly beautiful images show, in Mexico death is considered a part of life and something to be celebrated rather than feared. El día de los muertos (which actually lasts two days on November 1–2) is a time to gather with friends and families to feast, pray, dance, and honor the lives of those who have died. From the preparation of the food and flowers to the sanctification of the public and private spaces, to the ceremony itself, Murdy captures the spirit, beauty, and magic of this sacred observance.

The book has received numerous awards: 2021 Southwest Book Design Awards Best Photography/Art Book, Best Bilingual, and Best in Show for a hardcover book (New Mexico Book Association)2019 Winner of the Gold Medal for Best Multicultural Book of the Year Foreword INDIES Award Finalist for Best Art Book of the Year from Latino Literacy Now's 2020 International Latino Book Awards; Honorable Mention for the Best Arts Book category of the International Latino Book Awards; Finalist for Best Multicultural book of the year award from the annual New Mexico/Arizona book awards.

About the Author

Ann Murdy is a photographer based in Santa Fe, NM. Her work has been shown at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, CA, the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, IL, the California Heritage Museum in Santa Monica, CA, and Museo Chicano in Phoenix, AZ, among others. Her photo collages are a part of the permanent collection at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City.