I am a freelance author, lecturer, photographer and curator, specialising in the art and culture of Mexico. In 1978 my Fellowship took me to Mexico and Guatemala to research The Continuity of Maya Tradition. I have since published several books. These include Arts and Crafts of Mexico (1990), Textiles from Mexico (2002) and Mexico: Clothing and Culture (2015). I have also made ethnographic collections for the British Museum in Mexico and Belize. In 2015 I co-curated an exhibition of Mexican textiles at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and I am a research associate in the Department of World Cultures.

In 2016 I was awarded the Ohtli Award by the Mexican government. I was scheduled to return to Mexico in 2020 to write a book about Maya textiles – the subject of my Fellowship – but the Covid-19 pandemic intervened.

The Mexican Day of the Dead (All Souls' Day and All Saints' Day) has also been a source of inspiration. In 1991-1993 I co-curated an exhibition at the Museum of Mankind for the British Museum and co-wrote the accompanying book The Skeleton at the Feast: The Mexican Day of the Dead. My latest book is Day of the Dead: A Visual Compendium.