For over a decade, Dana Salvo has traveled throughout the central highlands and southern states of Mexico with artist Dawn Southworth and their young children, Jahna and Simone. They have visited the Purepechan Indians in Michoacan, the Chamulan and Zinacantan tribes in Chiapas, the Maya of the Yucatan peninsula, and several other isolated groups in the countryside. Welcomed into the homes of these rural peoples as few outsiders have been before, Salvo was permitted the rare privilege of photographing the home environments of these families. Central to each interior was the altarcito, or home altar. These dazzling large-format color photographs depict the altars in all their glory and meticulous detail. The essays provide the cultural and historic background to the practice of constructing domestic altars, linking the ancient traditions with modern customs.

At the heart of many homes in Mexico is the altarcito, or home altar: private shrines which have profound personal and familial meaning and reflect the vitality of Mexico's spiritual practices. The photographs in this collection depict the altars in detail. Some are constructed for special holidays - Christmas or the Day of the Dead - while others commemorate family members using photographs, mementoes and the deceased's favourite foods.

The tradition of home shrines first began evolving in the American Southwest during the Mexican colonial period, when priests often travelled to homes to perform mass, novenas, baptisms, and marriages, a practice that continues today. This colourful book features the personal altars of mostly Hispanic families living in the towns and villages of northern New Mexico. Most are devoutly Catholic, and although Roman Catholic dogma does not officially recognise home shrines, the altar tradition for most Hispanos is a sign of being 'Catholic from the heart'. Their private altars allow for devotion in daily life, a practice embraced by those of all beliefs who desire personal sacred places to meditate, pray, or reflect. These portraits will serve as an inspiration for even the least devout among us desiring more spirituality in our lives.

Studies retabloes--Mexican paintings on tin created in the latter half of the nineteenth century--from art, religious, and historical perspectives, and discusses efforts made to restore and conserve the artwork.