NEWS RELEASE
Oakland Museum of California
www.museumca.org

10TH & OAK STREETS
OAKLAND, CA  94607

For additional information:
Elizabeth Whipple
510/238-4740 MEDIA ONLY
Public Calls 510/238-2200
ewhipple@museumca.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 1, 2007

Return to original release

Ancient Roots/Urban Journeys: Expressions for Días de los Muertos
2007 Days of the Dead Artist Statements
October 10–December 2, 2007

California College of the Arts and East Oakland School for the Arts
Del Otro Lado/From the Other Side
We’re linked to our past through our roots--unseen roots, encoded in everything we create. This altar is dedicated to those roots and the influences we no longer see. We also want to pay homage to the land we live on--sacred native land--and to the lives we lead on it. We want everyone to see how we continue to reinterpret what this tradition of Days of the Dead, from all aspects, means to each of us and how we incorporate it into our daily lives.

In the process of creating this installation, we learned more about our heritage and asked ourselves: How are we changing and evolving with our artistic and spiritual traditions in this new place called Oakland, where many of us live and many of us end our lives?

DEAF Media
Traditional Altar for F.R. Gomez
Everyone who knew F. R. Gomez knew he was passionate about the arts. Known as "Rocky" to his friends, he loved literature, poetry, journals, and film. A second-generation deaf Mexican-American, he proudly carried on a storytelling tradition he inherited from his father. He was a graduate of the California School for the Deaf, Berkeley, and the National Technical Institute of the Deaf (Rochester, N.Y.).

F.R. was a DEAF Media board member, and served as a storyteller for many of the organization's programs at the Oakland Museum of California before his death in May 2004. We dedicate this ofrenda to our friend and colleague, who lived life with gusto. He possessed a tremendous sense of humor and strong spiritual beliefs. All who crossed his path instantly felt connected to him. We hope these images communicate our love for him and express what he meant to us.

Aida Gamez (Berkeley)
Road to Nowhere
Few people know the struggles immigrants face crossing the border in pursuit of work to support those whom they love. Often they die along the way, victims of the desert heat. Some are never found, while others become nameless bodies in graves. This is for the lost people—the men and women who died in their efforts to improve their families’ lives.

A Buddhist mandala, blending paper and cornhusks with the images of immigrants, is the center of my work. The mandala, used for meditation and to invoke introspection, unifies the images of those who died, strengthening their relevance and the sadness that surrounds their passing. Their families may never know what happened to them. Possibly, they believe they’re in this country, making their dreams come true.

I want everyone who sees my work to remember those brave people who attempted to reach the United States for a better future but never made it.

Mariana Garibay (Berkeley)
Memorial
We need our past to understand the present and give our future hope.
My installation continues the pre-Hispanic celebration that honors death and rebirth. The different elements represent the past, present, and future. Hearts and skulls nestled in nichos at the base suggest the thoughts and feelings of those who came before us. Above these nichos, architectural shapes of wire and paper represent each of us standing over our past and reaching toward the future. Dangling paper leaves sway in the wind to symbolize the cycles of life.

Elizabeth Gómez (Redwood City)
Thermal Inversion
One day I awoke to go to school and the birds were dead. It was Mexico City, 1983, and the air pollution was so strong it was enough to kill. Dozens of birds littered the pavement, seemingly sleeping, in a scene I still remember as both eerie and beautiful. That duality, and the subtle border between life and death, is the inspiration for this piece, which birds, flowers, and a palette of child-like colors are the centerpiece. A sandbox full of coal, representing human pollution and the misuse of natural resources, sits in the middle, straddling two different worlds.

One world, a colorful, child-like setting filled with a palette of bright, beautiful birds and flowers, symbolizing the animals and youngsters whose lives are daily endangered by pollution. In the other world, nothing lives. Everything is grey. A moment like this reminds us of the frailty of life and the importance of celebrating and cherishing it while we can.

Lissa Jones (San Jose)
Stories of our Faithful Dead/Cuentos de Nuestros Fieles Difuntos
La sala (the living room) is the center of family unity, the gathering place for past and present generations, the foundation of my work. My altar is laden with handmade treasures representing history, sentiment, and personal faith. Most of the items come from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. These artifacts reveal a balanced celebration, blending indigenous traditions with Catholic rituals. There is a unique and humble beauty found only in the small villages of Oaxaca during Días de los Muertos.

Items in my ofrenda are positioned to give the impression that the family has just walked away, perhaps to greet a visiting neighbor or head to the cemetery to decorate the gravestone and begin their tribute. I hope you will feel connected to the roots of Dias de los Muertos and the sacred tradition of celebrating loved ones' lives.

Gilbert Neri
Awakening/Despertar
For years I've been fascinated with the mythological roots of Chicano identity and how they manifest in the present. I wanted to blend past and present in my piece, utilizing Méxica/Azteca mythology while incorporating contemporary ways to honor and remember the dead.

My piece takes the form of an archeological exhibit in which imagined artifacts from the mythological land of Mictlán are displayed in vitrines. The most notable of these is a bed, which is intended to underscore the belief that mortal life is the dream state and death is the eternal reality. The bed links past and present and is a metaphor for dreaming, sleeping and remembering. Scattered around and on the bed are ofrendas to family members and references to the long journeys of life and death.

Joaquin Alejandro Newman (Oakland)
Soul Journeys/Jornadas del Alma
Let me take you on an odyssey that weaves the myth of the Journey to Mictlán with contemporary traditions of Días de los Muertos.

In the Aztec myth, the recently departed soul must journey through eight levels of the underworld, enduring grueling trials before finally arriving in Mictlán, the Realm of the Dead.

In this two-part mural, the road the soul takes on the journey is portrayed as the body of Quetzalcóatl, the feathered-serpent deity of ancient Mesoamerica.

On the mural’s left, you'll find ancient Aztec and Mayan symbols along each descending level. On the right, you'll see a cast of skeletons, based on the engravings of José Guadalupe Posada, bringing traditional offerings to various ofrendas.

Satirical billboards along the way both celebrate and chastise our modern culture.

Oakland Museum of California Días de los Muertos Committee
In honor of Antonio R. Salazar
Antonio Salazar, friend and colleague on the Oakland Museum's Latino Advisory Council, was a man of family and community.

After graduating from UCLA (where he chaired the Latino student club), Tony published the first magazine of Chicano/a music, Latin jazz, and salsa. His radio show on KPFK-FM was devoted to music and largely Latino issues. Later, in San Francisco, he published and edited Teleguía, a Spanish-language television guide.

We asked Tony's friends and family to donate or lend objects to our ofrenda, or contribute money to create it. What we saved, we have given to the Antonio R. Salazar Scholarship Fund. The check is on the altar as part of the ofrenda. Each object, each hour, each dollar, each reflection dedicated to Tony's memory attests to the love he inspired in others.

Abraham Ortega (San Jose)
Sideshow
Growing up in East San Jose, I used to sit and watch the neighborhood cholos.* I watched family members and guys in my neighborhood looking sharp and proud, living by their own standards and rules, their own values and beliefs. I tried to model my life after them.

As the years passed, these people, with their strong moral codes, became almost extinct. Nowadays, this type of man is a rarity—like a circus sideshow. I pay homage to all these men by blending the bygone era, illustrated by a mannequin who represents traditional cholos and everything they believed, with the sideshow theme.

The skeleton paint on the mannequin’s face represents the cholos of my youth who have passed away over the years. The bars have a dual meaning. They refer to those isolated from society in jails, and to the symbolic cages housing freaks of nature.

* Cholo is a term broadly applied to persons of mixed American Indian and Spanish ancestry. However, its precise usage has varied widely over time. In Mexico and the U.S., although cholos are often assumed to be gang members, the term implies a working-class Mexican or Chicano, not a gangster.

Lisa Ramirez (San Jose)
To the Faithful Departed and Those Left Behind
Loved ones are the focus of my work. My altar revolves around my childhood and all who played a significant role in shaping it, including family, friends, and beloved pets.

Using personal images, the altar explores issues of identity, memory, and the spiritual. It incorporates items that belonged to the Irish grandmother who raised me—furniture, clothing, letters, notes, and the Claddagh wedding ring she left me. To reflect my Catholic upbringing, I have included images of the Vírgen de Guadalupe, a rosary that symbolizes my grandmother's daily devotion to prayer, votive candles for the deceased, and my First Communion prayer book.

Books are important throughout my altar. I use them to help tell my story transforming them by layering photographs, text, and paint.

I dedicate this altar to my grandmother.

Reach Academy
Amor Eterno/Eternal Love
They are the men and women who came before us. They made sacrifices coming to this country, and took personal risks that helped shape the lives of untold generations. Their aspirations fueled our ambitions. We stand on their shoulders, tapping their spirits and reaching toward our future leadership in the world. In this ofrenda, we evoke Mayan tradition by dressing crosses in Rest in Peace (R.I.P) T-shirts.

We acknowledge our connections to the past and celebrate the lives and legacies that surround each of us. The spirits of our deceased loved ones live on, inspiring our dreams and guiding our paths.

Samuel and Matthew Rodriguez (San Jose)
Lady of the Dead/Dama de la Muerte (Mictecacihuatl)
Since they surfaced decades ago, low-rider motorcycles have come to epitomize the artistry that helped define the Chicano Movement. Welders transformed bike frames into sculptures, and artists painted masterpieces on metal.

We’re continuing the basic principles of that artistry, but taking it one step further by blending contemporary low-rider bikes with the ancient Días de los Muertos tradition.

We have transformed the low-rider bike of our centerpiece into a skeletal character that embodies the spirit of the celebration of death, and placed it on a frame that resembles a hospital gurney.

The six characters on either side of the gurney are pallbearers carrying the low-rider calavera into the afterlife.

Friends and Family of Chiori Santiago
Chiori's Garden
Chiori Santiago touched everyone she knew.

We pay tribute to this Bay Area writer, mother, and friend, who died last April at age 54. Chiori enriched our lives with her insight, joy, and knowledge of the lively arts, and through her community work that celebrated multiculturalism.

In this ofrenda, we honor everything she loved and created. Five objects introduce you to this amazing person.

A garden is the focal point, a reflection of her return to school at 50 to hone her landscape artistry. Her personal dressing table, a reminder of her beauty, sits in the middle. The mirror reflects her large community of friends and admirers.

The cake underscores her sweetness. The skeleton dressed in a kimono represents her blend of two cultures, Japanese and Latino.

We want you to see the Chiori we knew—a multifaceted, lovely, caring, talented, and beloved woman

. * * *
More information: Evelyn Orantes (510/238-3819) or
Elizabeth Whipple (ewhipple@museumca.org)