Museum explores the afterworld in exhibit inspired by Día de los Muertos
Day of the Dead exhibit takes over National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen
Death makes no plans — but you should. The National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen is honoring the dead and exploring the afterworld through an exhibit inspired by Día de los Muertos — the Day of the Dead.
During the three-day Mexican holiday, beginning Oct. 31, family and friends pray and remember lost loved ones, often building “ofrendas,” or altars, adorned with photos of the deceased, flowers, and their favorite foods.
This year’s Día de los Muertos exhibit features traditional and contemporary works reflecting the Mexican community’s layered understanding of death, molded by centuries of indigenous traditions, colonization and migration. Admission to the museum, 1852 W. 19th St., is free.
The exhibit runs through Dec. 9, but the museum’s celebration culminates with Día de Los Muertos Xicagoa, a free neighborhood get-together Oct. 28 at Harrison Park, next to the museum. It will have altars, music, face painting and plenty of “pan de muerto,” a traditional sweet bread made for the holiday.
Organizers will also project photos of the recently deceased, sent in by friends and family, on the outside of the museum.
Mario Hernandez, head of the museum’s planning committee for the event, expects this year’s celebration to eclipse past ones.
“Día de los Muertos has become very recognizable in pop culture, and we see that through an increase in interest in the museum and the exhibit,” he said.
One part of the exhibit is “The Veliz Project,” a collection of 30 suitcases filled and decorated by a local artist with what they would choose to bring with them to the afterlife. Traditionally, indigenous communities in Western Mexico would bury their loved ones with tools and objects to help the soul on its way to the next world.
Celebrations of Dia de Los Muertos across Mexico vary by region. Altars from Puebla, near the center of the country, often are decorated with Catholic symbols and iconography. In western Mexico, the holiday encompasses more indigenous traditions and values.
“These traditions are hundreds of years old and take on the regions’ understanding of life and death,” Hernandez said.
Altars made in the United States have their own particular style, Hernandez said; they’re “a lot more personalized than those in Mexico.”
The exhibit’s three altars made in honor of three recently deceased teachers and artists reflect this style of altar making.
An altar for Raquel Ontiveros, one of Chicago’s first female mariachis, is topped with memorabilia and totems dedicated to her pioneering career. Edith Padilla’s altar brings attention to the lives she touched as a counselor at Matthew Gallistel Languages Academy in South Chicago for 30 years. Photographer Laura Aguilar’s altar puts her camera front and center.
Curators included a toy display with a reference to “Chichihuacuauhco,” the Aztecs’ special resting place for children who die at a young age. That was to honor 10 children who perished in a house fire in Little Village on Aug. 26.
This month, the museum hosted its first Día de los Muertos “after dark” session of the season, where local artists conduct workshops decorating ofrendas. The next session is Nov. 1.
Maria Galindo, 69, and her daughter Grace Ayala, 29, were busy making flowers and chitchatting with people next to them during the workshop.
Galindo, who came to Chicago from Mexico in the 1970s, said she brought the tradition of the holiday with her so she could teach her children about their motherland and honor family members they never met.
“It’s a good way of remembering your roots,” she said in Spanish.
Ayala said she’ll keep the tradition alive. “It’s nice to remember the dead like this. It’s like they’re almost there with us in the room,” she said.
Across the table was Irma Rodriguez, 70, a Pilsen native who started celebrating the holiday only two years ago, after her first trip to Mexico.
“The way they honor the dead, it’s beautiful,” she said. “It’s never too late to learn about your culture.”
Carlos Ballesteros is a corps member in Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster Sun-Times coverage of issues affecting Chicago’s South and West sides.