Museum Celebrates Days of the Dead Old & New Oct. 10–Dec. 2, 2007

The Oakland Museum of California’s 14th annual Days of the Dead festivities begin Wednesday, October 10, with the opening of Ancient Roots/Urban Journeys: Expressions for Días de los Muertos. This year the skulls, skeletons, marigolds, and candles mix it up with low-rider and hip-hop culture.

Guest curator Anjee Helstrup-Alvarez, associate director/curator of San Jose’s Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA), encouraged artists to reinterpret the spiritual holiday. Ancient Roots/Urban Journeys includes Days of the Dead imagery and expressions from pre-colonial Mesoamerica (Oaxacan-style altars) to its contemporary Californian configurations (mixed media and graffiti art).

The exhibition depicts the holiday’s evolution with themes as diverse as Aztec and Mayan mythology to low-rider bicycle culture and the perils of illegal immigration. Several ofrendas (altars) will be created by local artists, schools, and community groups.

“Chicano culture and contemporary Chicano folk art are woven throughout Ancient Roots/Urban Journeys,” says curator Helstrup-Alvarez. “Both have street credibility, and offer a new take on the concept of the ofrenda.

“Violent death is a reality for many urban youth. The R.I.P. T-shirts in the exhibition were produced by kids from Oakland as a way of paying respect to their peers.”

The museum is creating special ofrendas for two longtime museum colleagues, community leader Chiori Santiago and Chicano activist Antonio R. (Tony) Salazar, and a recreation of the spontaneous street altars for slain journalist Chauncey Bailey.

The museum’s lively annual Days of the Dead Community Celebration, Sunday, October 21, 12–5 p.m., offers a colorful mix of music, a mercado (market), food, performances, a procession, public ofrendas (altars), and costumed revelers, in the courtyard and gardens. The celebration is free; museum admission is half-price all day.

The 2007 Days of the Dead events include gallery talks with the artists, the curator, and museum staff, on October 27, November 2, November 11, and November 18. For details on the Community Celebration or Días de los Muertos programs, visit www.museumca.org.

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