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News Page 8 Street Roots • Oct. 27-Nov. 2, 2017 Street Roots • Oct. 27-Nov. 2, 2017 News Page 9 It’s not ‘Mexican Halloween’ UNA Gallery is taking back Dia de Muertos with performance art and celebration on Nov. 2 BY EMILY GREEN unity and communion.” About four years ago, Orozco was living in an artists community on Northeast 81st aving grown up in Mexico City, Avenue, called Milepost 5, when her Portland gallery owner Mercedes housemates decided to throw a Halloween Orozco fondly remembers event. celebrating Día de Muertos with her family “They didn’t want to be so cliché as to do and neighbors at the beginning of each a Halloween thing, so they were like ‘Day of November. the Dead!’ Which was infuriating to me “It is the moment when those who have because I feel like they are not related,” died in your life come back and commune she said. “I was like, no. This isn’t like with you,” she explained recently as she sat Mexican Halloween.” in the front of her showroom on Northwest Now that Orozco owns and directs her Broadway. She opened own gallery, she wants to UNA Gallery one year ago use it to reclaim the to serve as an art space holiday and create a space that highlights people of where people of color can color, queer and femme Dia de Muertx come together and voices. 6 to ,10 p.m. celebrate it authentically. Día de Muertos holds a Thursday. Nov. 2 The holiday began as a special place in Orozco’s two-month-long celebration Artist and Collaborator heart. Her mother often in ancient Aztecan culture, Workshops organized the traditional but with Spanish Noon to 5 p.m. holiday celebration in her colonialism, it was capacity as a cultural Oct. 29,30 and 31 -• shortened to coincide with liaison working with the Catholic holidays, All UNA Gallery exchange students at the Saints’ Day and All Souls’ 328 NW Broadway, University of Mexico. Day, falling on Nov. 1 and Suite 117, Portland When Orozco’s family 2. moved to San Diego, her On the first night of the mother assisted the celebration, Orozco said, Mexican Consulate in the souls of children throwing a Día de Muertos return. This is known as event. Dia de los Inocentes (Day “The San Diego-Tijuana of the Innocents) or Dia de "Halloween is an border has its own flavor los Angelitos (Day of the when it comes to these incredibly capitalist Little Angels). Then on the traditions,” Orozco said. party in my eyes.... second night, everyone San Diego’s Old Town is else who has died joins the And Day of the Dead, well known for the city’s celebration for Dia de in contrast, to me, is annual Día de Muertos Muertos (Day of the Dead so misch about ritu a l celebration. or Dia de los Muertos in But when Orozco moved and tradition and English-speaking to Portland as an adult, she fam ily and unity and countries). was disheartened to find communion." “Your dead are coming that representations of her into your realm and MERCEOES OROZCO, beloved holiday were O W N E R O F U N A G A LLE R Y sharing dinner with you, incorporated into so you invite people over, Halloween: skeleton-like you talk about the people figurines and brightly that you’re celebrating - painted skulls used as it’s all with this sort of decoration without celebratory vibe. You are meaning. On Halloween, happy that they’re here. girls dressed as sexy señoritas with the It’s not like this scary death,” Orozco said. iconic black and white face paint. Families prepare dishes their loved ones “I would call it the commodifying of our enjoyed when they were alive, and they tradition,” she said. “Halloween is an create altars with trinkets and photos that incredibly capitalist party in my eyes. They remind them of the people they’re start advertising and selling Halloween stuff celebrating. Each altar incorporates the way before it’s even October, and Day of four elements and has a series of ascending the Dead, in contrast, to me, is so much steps with an image or figurine of the Virgin or a saint at its c rest Along with about ritual and tradition and family and STAFF W R ITE R H 9 IF YOU GO P H O T O B Y E M IL Y GREEN Mercedes Orozco, left, and Dinorah Santana, right, are organizing a Day of the Dead celebration at Orozco’s Portland art gallery, UNA Gallery. candles and sugar skulls, flowers are popular decorations for the holiday - especially marigolds, laid out to guide the spirits back to the physical world. A special bread with a bone-like shape baked on top of it, called pan de muertos, is cut up for all to eat, with a slice for the altar, too, Orozco said. Poetry dedicated to death is read, and music is played. During First Thursday, on Nov. 2, UNA Gallery will throw its Day of the Dead celebration, called Dia de Muertx, with poetry, music, tarot readings, energy cleansing and healing rituals, and live performance art from 6 to 10 p.m. It will also serve pan de muertos, hot chocolate and possibly dinner if additional resources can be secured. The suggested donation for attending the celebration is $5 to $10 at the door, but no one will be turned away due to inability to contribute. The gallery will feature three altars: one that’s traditional, for loved ones lost; one to honor victims of social injustice, such as those who died as a result of police brutality or war; and one that honors artists. It’s Orozco’s way of keeping alive the tradition that is close to people’s hearts and connecting the altars with the gallery’s mission of social justice. “If you want to do face painting and party and have some cocktail named after a sugar skull, that’s for elsewhere,” Dinorah Santana said. She’s been helping Orozco organize the Nov. 2 event. While Santana remembers the celebrations in Old Town, San Diego, the city where she grew up, she didn’t really begin to celebrate Dia de .Muertos until her son was about 3 or 4. “I started because it was a way for me to reclaim some of my culture that I have lost,” she said. Santana said the appropriation of the holiday, especially in Portland, has been a ' shock to her, as well. “You see a lot of culture appropriation with Halloween - bringing in this art that’s significant, and has symbolism, and bringing it in as a decoration,” she said. “It’s not an alternative (to Halloween). It’s not the second choice or anything like that, and it’s not to be edgy or hip. This is a real holiday. People celebrate it, and it’s really important for other PoC in Portland to understand that we want to honor it so that they can come to our space and they can take away this magical night.” . From noon to 5 p.m. Oct. 29, 30 and 31, UNA Gallery will open its doors to artists and collaborators as it assembles the show to receive art. Santana and Orozco want the set-up to be as communal as the celebration itself. Those who want to participate can bring photos or trinkets related to their lost loved ones to incorporate into one of the three altars or stop by to help with decorations and displays while learning more about the traditions behind the holiday. All personal items will be listed and cared for in order to ensure their safe return to participants. UNA Gallery events prioritize people of color, and organizers encourage white allies to participate by helping out during the construction phase of the project or by contributing financially to the event. You can visit their Facebook event page to find out more. Search for “Dia de Muertx at UNA.” emily@streetroots.org @GreenWrites A woman has her face painted to look like the popular Mexican figure Catrina during Mexico City’s 2015 Catrina Fest, which coincides with Day of the Dead. Catrina, or “The Elegant Death,” was created by Guadalupe Posada in the early 1900s. P H O T O B Y L U C Y Ñ IC H O L S O N /R E U T E R S A n altar is set up at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles for the 2013 Day o f the Dead festival. People pay homage to their deceased relatives by decorating their graves and creating altars with trinkets and photos that remind them of their loved ones.
