Day of the Dead exhibit at Oakland Museum Sunday 11/16/2008

My first impression of the Oakland Museum was bad. This was probably because of the current renovations and the uninviting entry, but after the warm welcome and fantastic exhibits my first impression was forgotten and I did not remember it till now.
There are many museums that offer free entry on certain days of the month and unfortunately I did not coordinate the day correctly and paid the student fee plus the fee of my family. If I would have gone on the second Sunday of the month the admission would have been free.
Upon entry to the Dia De Los Muertos exhibit I felt I had already been there before. I have seen papel picado many times but had never seen the tools used to create it. I was impressed with the look and feel of the exhibit’s entry. The item that really made me feel that I had already been there before was the pictures of a place I have visited before. On many trips to Mexico my parents took me to a small island in Michoacan called Patzcuaro.

I never knew that Patzcuaro had one of largest events to celebrate the Dia De Los Muertos till now. I plan on returning to this small island one day to witness this event. I could tell you all about my experience when I did go but there a few things you should know if you go; take comfortable shoes, you might fall off the boat when getting there, you should like sea food, bring money for souvenirs, and be careful with the native speaking children, they tell you a poem in their language and if you don’t give them some money they become rude.

The exhibit was compiled of many styles and examples of alters and expressions of what day of the dead means to the artist(s). The main area was one of my favorite part of the show. The graphics were modern and yet felt traditional. The images were common items but had a ragged edge that sculpted the forms to resemble a Mexican rustic feel. There were many small alters on each wall and one of them that stood out the most to me was the flying skeleton puppet.
It was very simple and felt very balanced. The light was contained inside a box and helped the small figure standout. The piece my family liked the most was an image of a pregnant women and the floating fetus. It depicted a scene of loss. The lady is pregnant and sad and the fetus is in harmony and maybe in heaven. When we studied the piece we held each other and thanked God for blessing us with a wonderful baby girl.

The mural that really hit home was the scene of a man walking with the dead. On the special day of the dead many faithful individuals probably feel that they are walking with their deceased loved ones again. The pain, misery, and sleepless nights make morning people believe that there lost ones are still there with them at sometimes it helps their healing.

We left the exhibit feeling that we missed something and agreed that we would go again next year. Next time we will go on a free day and have enough money to buy something from the gift store.
I really appreciated the time and effort everyone put into making this exhibit come to life.
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