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This is a yearly exhibit celebrating the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday. A multimedia experience of ceramics, photography, painting, printmaking and paper maché shows art peppered with skeletons mocking death, but the large-scale ofrendas (dedications) are the most striking. Ofrendas are displayed with didactic information in English and Spanish so that visitors can both learn about the tradition as well as partake in a communal recognition of the departed persons. Most ofrendas are deeply personal, featuring identifying items like shoes and treasured objects. A tribute to deceased luchador (Mexican wrestler), El Huracán, includes his mask as well as a fabulous graffitied painting by local artist Mark Anthony Flores. Among the meaningful, multimedia dedications is a piece created by students at the Big Picture High School dedicated to the thirty-two public school children who were killed in acts of violence this past year. Local and Mexican artists are on site demonstrating a variety of traditions from sugar skulls to cooking mole. (Kelly Roark) Through December 16 at NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART
Visual Art Culture of Chicago and Beyond
