Latino Heritage (Part II): Honoring Life

For countries whose biggest October holiday is Halloween, like the United States and parts of Europe, seeing other cultures celebrating a similar time of year in a related fashion, candies and sweets, colorful costumes, and even skulls may not come across as a separate holiday. However, many Latin American countries and American cities with significant Latin American populations are having entirely different festivities: a celebration of life and death. As a holiday with Mexican origins, Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, is a two-day commemoration, typically November 1 and 2, although events range from the last week of October through the first week of November. Public festivities have become increasingly common over the years, and due to the time of year, it is often mistakenly associated with Halloween – it is far more closely tied with Catholicism. Día de los Muertos is a fusion of indigenous traditions from the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec, and Catholic holidays, All Saints Day and All Souls Day, from the Iberian colonizers. Outside of Mexico (and areas that once belonged to Mexico with a continuing cultural presence, including California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas) and Central America, it is more common for the celebrations to be about the religious side. Similarly, all Saints Day, Día de Todos los Santos, is November 1, followed by All Souls Day, Día de los Fieles Difuntos, on November 2, and the two days are often referred to as a unit colloquially: Todos Santos y Fieles Difuntos.

Andrey Guaianá Zignnatto, MESTIÇAGEM #07 [SOBRE A PELE series] / MESTIÇAGEM #07 [DE LA SERIE: SOBRE LA PIEL], 2020, jenipapo on paper cement bag, ceramic, brass, iron. Photo courtesy of Maya Garabedian.

There’s a lot of artistry that goes into celebrating these holidays. Offerings to the deceased are significant to all parts, from indigenous and modern cultural practices to religious traditions. The ofrendas are believed to encourage visits from the dead, welcoming their souls back for a brief reunion that celebrates and honors family and friends. In the case of Día de los Muertos, people come together to create these ofrendas in the form of altars, which may include photos, favorite foods and drinks, personal items, gifts, bright flowers, especially marigolds, and artisanal skulls that can feature custom elements for the deceased, like their name. These skulls, or calaveras, are often colorful, feature a smile, and are made of sugar or clay, highlighting not only the celebratory nature of the tradition but also the importance of craftsmanship. The most well-known example of this commitment to artistry and embodied symbolism is skull face painting, a longstanding tradition that has become a cornerstone of public festivities. Many patterns used in modern-day decorations are an homage to indigenous prints and style.

Waldemar Cordeiro, The Woman Who is Not B.B. / A mulher que não é B.B. (left) with close-up (right), 1971, offset lithograph. Photos by Maya Garabedian.

As these artistic traditions honor the rich, diverse history of Latin American culture and include celebrations with wide-ranging appeal, cultural institutions and museums host a variety of events this time of year. Of the many gatherings in the Los Angeles area, one stood out above the rest due to its location: the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA). Located along the south coast in Long Beach, California, MOLAA is a true treasure, the only US museum entirely dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American art. This year’s Día de los Muertos festival was themed “Journey of our Ancestors,” after the southern migration of monarch butterflies, which return to Mexico in early November each year, a symbol of the ancient belief that the monarch migration represents the return of ancestral souls. Beyond art and sugar skull workshops, face painting, and traditional song and dance performances, over 45 local artisans and merchants had booths selling food, art, and other handmade works. The exhibition inside the building nicely complimented the festivities that awaited beyond MOLAA’s back doors – ARTEÔNICA: Art, Science, and Technology in Latin America Today, part of the Getty’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide.

Constanza Piña, Khipu Prehispanic Electrotextile (left) with close-up (right), 2018, mixed media. Photos by Maya Garabedian.

ARTEÔNICA’s show theme stems from the contribution of Brazilian electronic art pioneer, Waldemar Cordeiro, who once had an exhibition of his own by the same name. At that time, in 1972, he wrote a complex treatise on the use of electronics in art, something he calls “areteônica.” In his text, he defends the use of electronic media in art while also criticizing digital reproduction, asserting that the information inscribed within an original work doesn’t carry over into copies and computer renderings, which hurts interpretation. As one of the first computer artists in South America, he presents the computer as an instrument of less “traditional” artistry and positive social change that could help democratize art and culture. This idea of finding a balance between past and present, and designing a future that includes elements of both was the common thread through every corner of MOLAA. In Constanza Piña’s Khipu Prehispanic Electrotextile, pre-colonial Andean knowledge is merged with modern technology. With this installation, an eco-computation device records numerical and cosmological information in knots. The traditional camelid fibers are replaced with 180 hand-spun copper wire and alpaca wool ropes surrounding antennae, amplifying electromagnetic noise and symbolically honoring the sounds of ancient wisdom.

Dora Bartillotti, La has visto…? (textile component) and performance video (below), 2021-22. Photos by Maya Garabedian.

One of the most moving pieces on view was Dora Bartillotti’s La has visto…? In a unique electronic textile installation, Bartilloti’s works are wearable art often accompanied by a performance component, shown via video on the opposing wall. She tackles the issue of systematic forced disappearance in Mexico in three phases. First, textile strips with names of victims record viewers saying the phrase, “Have you seen her…?” which creates a vocal polyphony effect. Then, a sculpture with an RFID scanner reads the strips and adds the viewers’ voices. The question repeats aloud as viewers dismantle the textile by removing strips, ultimately leading to silence, offering an unspoken, unresolved answer. This work has a poignant and timely message regarding the current cultural holidays. While seemingly sad, the process of spreading awareness and engaging with the public in vibrant sensory-based mixed media is a way of honoring the victims in a similar spirit to Día de los Muertos and Todos Santos y Fieles Difuntos. Despite how well the exhibition lined up with the commemorative holidays, certainly adding a layer of depth to the experience, MOLAA’s ARTEÔNICA is open through February, giving visitors the opportunity to engage in the cultural practice of honoring life even after the holidays end.

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