Page 2: Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead: The Gift of Remembrance

August 23 – November 4, 2007

Today, Día de los Muertos has all the synergy of modern and ancient traditions.  In Oaxaca City , deep in the interior of Mexico , the occasion has become a major tourist attraction.  Markets are filled with flowers, candles, and regional foods including edible sugar skulls and pan de muertos as well as colorful folk art.  Processions and masked dances mocking Death are part of the festivities, as well as special public Altars of the Dead, competing for awards.  Tapetes, sand paintings that are colorful, yet fleeting, are displayed in the plaza in the days leading up to the observance.  Exhibitions of artworks by contemporary and folk artists featuring skulls and cavorting skeletons are reminders of Death’s presence. 

Gradually, these customs and traditions have migrated into the United States .  In Nogales , on both sides of the Arizona-Sonora border, the flowers and graveside decorations create a breathtaking array of color and form on November 1^st and 2^nd.  While families gather amid music and laughter, visitors come respectfully to observe this festival of remembrance.  In border communities and cities that have large Mexican-American populations, the Día de los Muertos theme is the focus of many exhibitions displayed in galleries, cultural centers and museums in early November.

Our exhibit at Tohono Chul Park presents work by 33 Southwest artists who have drawn on the regional customs and traditions to create original works on the Día de los Muertos theme.  The vitality and exuberance of Mexican culture is commemorated in many of the artworks.  Martin Quintanilla , born in Mexico and now a Tucson resident, has created a showstopping Community Altar that is inspired by the traditional elaborate framework altars of Michoacán, resplendent with marigolds, the flower of the dead.  After spending a month last year in Oaxaca during Día de los Muertos observing tapetes (sand paintings) being created in a church plaza, Hank Tusinski volunteered to recreate this ephemeral art form for our enjoyment.  Kathy Robbins rendered a painting of an altar she saw in the streets of Puerto Vallarta last year while Tusinski, Michael Stoklos and Diana Ingalls Leyba have captured scenes in the cemeteries of Oaxaca and Sonora .