Días de los Muertos:
The Art of Remembrance
October 17-November 3, 2024
Hi-ARTS invites you to The Art of Remembrance: Días de los Muertos Celebration! Throughout the month of October, we welcome you to join us in honoring and celebrating the lives and memories of our ancestors. Through Ofrenda (Community Altar), The Art of Remembrance: Shrine-Making Workshop, and our Opening Ceremony, this celebration of the departed serves as a collective expression of our love and Remembrance. These offerings are designed to bring us together to remember, grieve, and process the ideas of death in community.
Inspired by the vibrant traditions of Mexico and other Central American communities, Día de los Muertos is a multi-day holiday in which families and friends gather to remember and pay respects to those who have passed away, celebrating their lives and keeping their memory alive. This cultural tradition includes adorning altars, called ofrendas, with photos, favorite foods, candles, marigolds, and other meaningful mementos that invite the spirits of the departed to join in celebration. Día de los Muertos is a time for joy, Remembrance, and connection to embrace the cycle of life and death with love and reverence.
Programming
Celebration of Souls: Altar Activations
October 17, 2024
215 E99th St. | 5-8pm
Space is limited. Please register to attend.
Participants are invited to move freely between activations.*
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Hi-ARTS Studio | 5-7pm
Visual artist and arts educator Mincho Vega will facilitate the creation of nichos, or small folk artwork found throughout Latin America. These small altars can be made to honor one's ancestors or a specific person from history. Mincho Vega will begin with a brief history of nichos and ofrendas and then lead visitors in creating and decorating their nichos.
Joining Mincho Vega will be Mexican-born artist Aurelia Fernandez who will facilitate a Mexican Paper Flower Making Workshop. Colorful Mexican paper flowers and the intricate papel picado (cut paper banners) are used in both secular and religious celebrations throughout the year, including weddings and holidays. All ages welcome!
While supplies will be provided, feel free to bring any type of materials inspired by your loved one’s life, such as photograph copies, momentos or letters.*
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Black Box Theater | 5-7 pm
Let’s eat cake and talk about death. The Death Café is a global movement that invites people, often strangers, to gather around cake and tea while discussing topics of death with the objective “to increase the awareness of death while inspiring one another to make the most of their finite lives.
While this conversation will be facilitated, this is ultimately a group directed discussion and will have no formal agenda, or objective — and is instead for you to share and discuss what’s on your mind.*
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Hi-ARTS Gallery Foyer | 7pm Performance by Raquel Almazan
As the world grapples with ongoing death, Raquel Almazan invites us to ask, “how do we integrate memory, loss and the resiliency to continue into space as a community?"
Almazan will move the collective through a ritual process of remembrance, activating connection with personal Muertos into a physical path that leads to photograph and/or object ofrenda offering.
Ofrenda
October 17-November, 2024
215 E99th St. Foyer Gallery
Public Visiting Hours: Monday-Friday, 9am-10pm
No registration required.
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Join us throughout the month in activating, maintaining and contributing to our ofrenda. This Community Altar will serve as a collective space for remembrance, reflection, meditation, and communal mourning. We invite you to visit and contribute offerings for a loved one. We welcome you to bring photographs, cherished mementos, flowers, poetry, drawings, and/or art. Audiences can also look forward to guided prompts on ways to engage with the ofrenda.
Your offering will contribute to the rich tapestry of shared memory and emotion. This is a space for reflection, connection, and healing. Come and go as you please. Please note: no open flames are prohibited in the building. You are welcome to bring a battery operated candle.