Ornate skulls line streets for Day of the Dead
Ornate skulls will spend month peeking out of storefront windows
For the third (and probably last) year, stores and businesses on the island are displaying hand-painted and -decorated clay skulls as part of the International Day of the Dead Exhibition and Festival.
The exhibit will include new skulls as well as those from the last two years. There will be some 40 works on display in shops and windows.
“Instead of one skull per shop, there will (be) some stores with two or three skulls,” said Granville Island Cultural Society executive director Barbara Chirinos.
“And some new businesses are going to be involved.”
The year’s crop of new work includes work from several Vancouver-based artists, two Oaxacan and one Mexico City-based artist. Other contributors come from Iran, Spain, Ukraine, France and Australia.
The exhibit also includes a skull by Beau Dick. The Alert Bay First Nations carver died earlier this year.
“He was thrilled to do one,” Chirinos said. “It’s near and dear to our hearts.”
There are no official guided tours but, Chirinos says, people are welcome to set up their own.
“I’ll be walking through the island and see a small group of people with a map in their hands,” she says of past years. “They’re walking from shop to shop, beholding these absolutely gorgeous skulls.”
Mexican-Canadian artist Ari De La Mora is behind the project. She brought the idea of a Day of the Dead-inspired exhibit to the Granville Island Cultural Society. Originally, she wanted to use just one of Granville Island’s theatres. But that idea proved impractical. Chirinos suggested displaying the skulls in shops.
“That creates a tour that is available 24/7 for people walking around the island,” she said. “They can do the tour individually, in groups, during the day, late at night, and it’s a win-win for the artists in terms of additional exposure. At the same time, it provides possibly new customers for the shops that participate.”
A community outside of Mexico City makes the clay skulls. Skull-making has been in their families for generations.
De La Mora met with the group earlier in the year. “They were honoured by the fact that we respect the time-honoured tradition of the Mexican Day of the Dead,” Chirinos said.
Following the 2017 tour and exhibit, De La Mora is moving on to other projects — hence the likelihood that this year will be the last.
The Mexican Day of the Dead is celebrated Nov. 1 and 2. The celebration has special resonance this year, as Mexico mourns the 500 people killed by earthquakes in September.
The exhibit is not just a chance to see some fancifully decorated skulls. It’s also, Chirinos said, an educational and cultural
experience that allows artists to share their interpretations of death according to their culture, traditions and artistic style.
“A lot of people think the Day of the Dead is really all about getting some skulls, getting some silver, getting some beer and perhaps going to a cemetery,” Chirinos said. “And that is a way it is celebrated. But to the Mexican and Latino community, it is so much more than just that.”
They can do the tour individually, in groups, during the day, late at night, and it’s a win-win for the artists in terms of additional exposure.