Between Earth and Sky: 100 Days of Deep Looking in the Place of the Dead

A transformative 100-day exploration through the seemingly desolate lands of Mexico's "place of the dead" etches a path of collapse and renewal, documented in poignant, imaginative prose and remarkable macro lens photography.

A visually arresting and contemplative giftable object that pairs luminous, full color macro photography from the stark, mythical deserts of Oaxaca, Mexico with short, reflective prose rooted in mindfulness

After the loss of his career and identity as a New York City journalist, Jo Confino finds himself in pandemic exile in Mitla, Mexico—the “place of the dead”—where the silence of the landscape becomes the canvas for a radical unlearning. The book that emerged, compact and aesthetic, is a tactile, treasured companion for personal reflection or ritual space.

Inspired by the Engaged Zen teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and the tradition of mindfulness, these reverent pages invite the reader to slow down, look deeply, and encounter impermanence, interconnection, and endless mystery. The spritiual arc—from disintegration to insight and renewal—the author discovers offers a map through global disruption and toward rootedness in unfamiliar places.

Tracing 100 days of unexpected lockdown, Between Earth and Sky folds together memoir, photographic meditation, and spiritual inquiry to create a fresh, poetic take on ecological awareness and spiritual resilience in a time of crisis that speaks to anyone who’s ever been brought to their knees by change and found something sacred in the dust.