Sunday, October 8, 2017

Día de Muertos exhibit, Oakland Museum of California Oct. 18, 2017-Jan. 14, 2018


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Oakland Museum of California

Día de Muertos Exhibition:

Metamorphosis & Migration

October 18, 2017 - January 14, 2018

 
This year, OMCA’s biennial Days of the Dead exhibition is inspired by the life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly. Known for its mass migration each winter, this butterfly’s journey spans several generations, all of whom follow the same routes their ancestors took. In Mexico, the returning Monarchs also symbolize the returning souls of loved ones who have passed away.

In Metamorphosis & Migration: Days of the Dead, explore ofrendas and artworks inspired by the Monarch’s migration and themes of tradition and transformation for reflection and empowerment in these turbulent times. Metamorphosis & Migration, guest curated by Evelyn Orantes, honors the departed and inspires the living in an exploration of ancestral legacies and immigration stories of today. View rarely seen butterfly specimens from OMCA’s collection alongside newly commissioned artworks and ofrendas by seven artists, including Jet Martinez, Rafael Jesús González*, Fernando Escartiz, Bea Carrillo Hocker, Favianna Rodriguez, Chris Treggiari and Peter Foucault, and others.
 
* The piece by Rafael Jesús González is titled “Ofrenda del Señor Xochipilli al Señor Mictlantecuhtli/Ofrenda of Lord Xochipilli (god of art) to Lord Mictlantecuhtli (god of death)”.

It is an Ofrenda to artists (and who is not an artist in some form or another? — we sing, we dance, we sew, we make delectable food) who died in the process of Migration, and in memory of Roberto Almanzán & Juan Domingo, founding members of Xochpilli Chicano/Latino Men's Circle who died at the beginning of the year.


The piece breaks the usual boundaries of sculpture, installation, conceptual art and blurs the distinctions between the sacred and the profane. It denies the division between the spiritual and the political. It is a statement of grief for the suffering and deaths of migrants. It is a cry of outrage at the attacks upon immigrants by our government whose foreign policies force migration.


The "ofrenda" is created as fully as possible from recycled material, borrowed objects, and donations in kind from the community. Whatever could be saved creating the installation is placed upon the altar in the form of a cheque to be delivered to Causa Justa/Just Cause, for its work in defense of immigrants, when the exhibit closes.

Don't miss our 23rd Annual Days of the Dead Community Celebration on Sunday, October 22! Learn more

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