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.