Travels With Marilu...A Spiritual Journey

I am very proud to share a glimpse of my travels' spiritual journey through my enticing first book. You will be able to understand the grit that goes into capturing the moment. Its content is a manifest of how each trip has helped me grow personally. In essence, the world seems never-ending when we are entwined with the beauty in which we immerse ourselves. You may never see it all in a lifetime, in part, because of the multiple artists enlarging it with their sublime creative representations in paintings, poems, songs, sculptures, writings and other forms of art. There is no set framework you may use as reference. It's a do it yourself experience blessed with empathy, joy, understanding and togetherness! My photographs of people and sites are unique and breathtaking and should ignite your curiosity with a newly-found sense of appreciation for our planet Earth.

Traveling vastly has helped me realize how much I have left to learn about the world; even though I have experienced most of it. The diversity of cultures, beliefs and traditions I've seen and truly loved is immeasurable. It's surprising to perceive that all human beings who grow up close and afar are analogously connected in our sole universe.

Indeed, you will visualize and imagine history as timelessly dazzling while perusing my book. Although my photos capture a single moment and place in time, nothing beats the harmonious experience of feeling all lives in coexistence. I also invite you to enjoy my artist's website Marilu-World-Photography.com. Your takeaway may be the beginning or continuation of your own worldly-wise journey and more.

Foreword by Lori Marie Carlson

Marilu Ramírez, a retired educator who spent decades instructing bilingual children in the New York City public school system, is also an accomplished photographer. Not surprising are her eagle eye and compassionate personality; after all a dedicated teacher sees her charges in ways that are uniquely sensitive and visceral-- forever trying to reach her students to encourage growth and transformation. These same attributes are evident in Ramírez's craft, as she shares the heart and soul of her artistry with others to evoke epiphanies.

Ramírez has deep roots in two cities: San Juan, Puerto Rico and New York City. And, yet, she is better understood as a wanderer, a veritable citizen of the world. Her passion is travel. She is never happier than when roaming the byways, country lanes, urban avenues, seascapes, and archaeological sites of terrains ranging from the rice paddies of Vietnam to the crowded plazas of Spain to Jordan's ancient heritage sites.

In this book of photographs taken over the course of many years in 33 countries, she addresses the magic and intention of human activity as well as the sublime majesty of nature. Intense color (fuchsia, verdigris, turquoise, chartreuse), yin-yang energy, surprising confluences of human interaction with happenstance: these are the hallmarks of her imagery. One senses immense joy in her photographs. There is a hallelujah in each frame. A meditation of thanksgiving.

Many of Ramírez's images orient the viewer upward, toward an imaginary apex of sorts. Umbrellas hanging high above a thoroughfare; a temple's vaulted ceiling; doves in aerial formation; celestial mountain peaks. It's as if she is leading us away from a reality that meets us at stature level to a more exalted understanding of where we really are in the universe: a realm whose treasures must be summoned in dreams as much as unveiled in our everyday routine.

Marilú Ramírez speaks of her world travels as a spiritual journey. Beckoned by the earth, mountains, black sandy beaches, foggy mornings, and sunny days. Aware of lights and shadows, the interplay of color and sound, curious she wanders the streets and alleys of cities, small villages, and surrounding countryside. Her photographs capture people of all ages in their work, play and worship. Travels with Marilú takes us around the world, from her homeland of Puerto Rico to all the world's continents.

A Boston University's College of Communication graduate, Marilú is a member of the National Arts Club in New York City, where she participates in the annual Exhibiting Artist Members Show and has promoted numerous arts education programs. She was invited to join the Circumnavigators Club, a forum for intellectual exchange and the only organization providing people who have circumnavigated the globe.

Marilú Ramírez has received international recognition for her artwork and leadership in education and cultural programs, including the publication of her photographs in several books. Listed in Who's Who in Education and Who's Who of Young American Professionals, Marilú has worked in Spanish radio and television in New York and Boston and has long been an advocate of multicultural education. Born in Puerto Rico, she lives in New York.