Honoring our Ancestors | maraleabrown

Honoring Our Ancestors by Fighting for the Future: Día de los Muertos 2018

SOMArts, October 13–November 9, 2018

Tenme en tu corazón una vez más

Hold me in your heart one more time

Installation by Mara Lea Brown

Now in its 19th year, SOMArts’ Día de Los Muertos exhibition is one of the most internationally diverse Day of the Dead celebrations in the United States. Over the years, this group exhibition has brought together a wide variety of perspectives to honor, remember, and celebrate the dead.

Since its inception, Día de Los Muertos at SOMArts has offered a space for collective mourning, healing, and refusing to forget the people and places who have been lost. Merging traditional altars with contemporary installations, Dia de los Muertos continues to be a multigenerational gathering of remembrance while imagining the possibilities of the future. Now more than ever, it is imperative that our creative practices be rooted in social action that inspire better world for generations to come.

Curated by Rio Yañez and Carolina Quintanilla, this year’s theme, Honoring our Ancestors by Fighting for the Future, reflects on how those we’ve lost have shaped our creative and political work. How does the wisdom and work of the dead show us a path and means to a better future? What about your past must you take to your future?

Honoring our Ancestors by Fighting for the Future is dedicated to the Padrino of the Mission and beloved Dia de los Muertos co–curator, René Yañez. Yañez was crucial in the formation of Chicanx visual aesthetics and as a founding member of Galeria de la Raza, created spaces that centered contemporary Latinx perspectives. Since 1999, Yañez curated the Dia de los Muertos exhibitions at SOMArts Cultural Center and we honor him with this exhibition, celebrating his life, legacy, and impact on generations to come.

The exhibition unveiling, Friday, October 12, 2018, 6–9pm, $12–$15 sliding scale admission, features performances by La Mezcla and a Dia de los Muertos inspired artist market.

Honoring our Ancestors by Fighting for the Future

Exhibiting Artists:
Adrian Arias, Mara Hernandez
Adriana Garcia
April Martin Chartrand, M.S.
Ayana Ivery
Azucena Hernandez
Candi Farlice
Carla Caletti
Choppy Oshiro
Cj grossman
Cynthia Tom, Cris Matos
Dean and Juliet MacCannell
El Chicano– David Tafolla
Elena-Maria Bey
Elly Rojas Blancas
Elizabeth Addison
Elizabeth Benson
Gustavo Vasquez
Howie Katz
John Mayne
Josephine Torio
Kathy deRosas
Keiko Kubo, Stephanie Lowe
Kristian Kabuay
Kristiana Chan, missTANGQ
Lia Tealdi, John Latham, Alice Latham
Libby Paloma, Ace Lehner
Lilli Lanier, Rachel-Anne Palacios, Emily Winslow-Cabrera
Mara Lea Brown
Mary Molly, Ernie
Marco Razo, Kate Razo
Maya Chinchilla
Michael Dingle
Michelle Bonilla Garcia
Miranda Bergman
Monique D. Lopez
Nancy Hom, Pam Wu
Nick Gomez
Patricia Montgomery
Patrick Piazza
Rio Yañez
Rosario Sotelo
Sarah Davis
Shizue Seigel
Susan Mathews
Veronica Rueda, Jose Luis Rueda
Victor-Mario Zaballa, Calacas Atómicas
Yohana Junker, Coletivo Desbordar

Curators:
Carolina Quintanilla
Rio Yañez

Related Events:
Opening Reception
Friday, October 12, 6–9pm
Exhibition unveiling features a Día de los Muertos inspired artist market and multimedia dance performances by La Mezcla

TechnoTihuacan at Dia de los Muertos
Friday, October 25, 6–9 pm
Join artists Rob Fatal and DJ Bianca Oblivion as they use DJing and art remixing to create digital murals exploring the intersections of contemporary Latinx life

Closing Reception
Friday, November 9, 2018, 6–9pm
The final opportunity to view and interact with the altars features live music, artist market, and interactive installations.