The book Rites of Life depicts people at some of the most emotional moments of their lives. For more than seven years Anders Ryman has travelled the world documenting life cycle rituals. The result is a book that in intimate and stunning pictures portrays more than thirty rituals from all corners of the globe.

The rituals span from the blessing of the newborn in a small village in Spain to a girl’s intitiation into womanhood among the Apaches of Arizona; from the Xhosa male initiation ceremony in South Africa to the communion with the dead during Todos Santos in Bolivia; from a woman’s first chilbirth in Palau to the wedding ceremonies in the Shinto shrines of Tokyo.

This is book about man’s journey through life, about cultural diversity and what unites us all as human beings.