Virgin of Gualdalupe (detail) from Tercera Aparición, papier-mâché altar by Aurora Velarde-Tapia and Claudia Tapia. Photo: Claudia Tapia

The Oakland Museum of California presents its eleventh annual celebration of the Mexican and Central American spiritual tradition Días de los Muertos (Days of the Dead). In this year’s presentation authors explore the influence of indigenous cultures and Spanish colonization on current Days of the Dead observances and expressions.

The museum will again host its Community Celebration for Days of the Dead, Sunday, October 24, from noon to 4 p.m. rain or shine, in the gardens. Free to all, the event offers crafts and demonstrations, music, dance, a ceremonia (ceremony), and a mercado (market).

At the heart of the Days of the Dead tradition are ofrendas, literally anything placed on an altar or given as an offering to honor the dead. A dance or song can be an ofrenda.

This year’s installations are by Stan Padilla, a multimedia artist and activist in the Xicano indigenous community, and his son Ian Padilla; Consuelo Jimenez-Underwood, a fiber artist and weaver of Chicana and Huichol Indian descent; Patssi Valdez, a painter; Jeffrey Ferns, a poet and storyteller of Yaqui and Huichole descent; Yolanda Garfías Woo, an anthropologist of Zapotec heritage; Juan R. Fuentes, a noted printmaker, and his daughter Amilca Mouton-Fuentes; papier-mâché artists Claudia Tapia and Aurora Velarde-Tapia; Mia González; altar maker Amalia Mesa-Bains; and glass sculptor Viviana Paredes.

A theme found throughout Iluminaciones is the idea of memory playing an important role in the creative endeavors of Latino artists. This becomes particularly evident in ceremonial art forms such as altars and offerings for Days of the Dead.

This year’s guest curator, Lorraine García-Nakata, decided on the iluminaciones theme after considering how differently the indigenous and colonial societies approached ordinary materials, such as glass. Indigenous peoples found glass in a natural state, obsidian, and used it as a tool, a weapon, and an ornament. Colonial cultures manufactured glass and used it in windows and mirrors. Indigenous cultures looked into it, colonial cultures looked through it, explains García-Nakata, yet in both the glass was reflective and an instrument of light.

Detail from altar by Amalia Mesa-Bains, Offering for Marina. Photo: Michael Temperio

Whether consciously or not, Latino artists find inspiration in the myths and spirituality of the pre-Conquest peoples, as well as in the influences of Spanish colonization. Colonial altars, box niches, and reliquaries often serve as the basis for contemporary interpretive works. These frequently contain a hybrid collection of Mesoamerican and Catholic symbols: birds, crosses, flames, serpents, hearts, arrows, skulls, thorns, and deities.

Originally, many of these symbols functioned as a visual language in the nature-based spirituality of Mesoamerica. Later, Spanish friars presented them as part of a pictographic narrative of Christian beliefs. Within the process of Latino self-representation, these traditional forms are reinvented and revitalized.

Also featured in Iluminaciones will be Illuminated Visions, an installation of decorated chairs addressing colonial and indigenous themes by Oakland school and youth groups working with lead artist Rachel Anne Palacios. The installation is a collaboration among Garfield Elementary School, Urban Promise Academy, Think College Now, and Girls Inc.

BACKGROUND
Días de los Muertos is a time to remember deceased loved ones and honor their memory personally with altars in the home and communally at the cemetery. Though ceremonies vary from region to region, many offer ancestors gifts of flowers, food, drink, sugar skulls, candles and incense, and mementos.

The practice of celebrating Days of the Dead in the U.S. has grown tremendously since its introduction during the Chicano Movement of the early 1970s. Over the years it has become identified with the regional traditions of the states of Oaxaca and Michoacan, where commemorations include elaborate home altars, all-night candlelit vigils at the cemetery, and, in Oaxaca, beautiful sand paintings. The tradition of Días de los Muertos extends beyond Mexico and Central America into the American West and Southwest. Artists adopted these regional expressions, creating their own interpretations in gallery and museum altar installations.

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