Cemetery Entrance
Most funeral processions proceed up this street, past the vendors, and into the cemetery.
| Return to Text. |
The general theme of the dead yucking it up either in the land of the dead or back among us on Día de Muertos informs a surprising amount of what seems to be semi-permanent art. Generally speaking, cheerful skeletons are shown engaged in mundane tasks or joyous celebration.
When there are texts, however, the theme is emphatically the need to remember the dead. The stress seems to be almost entirely on the family dead. If Oaxacans were Chinese, they would probably include teachers and historical heroes. (Important research finding: Mexicans are not Chinese.)
The mural pictures here decorate a long alley between the church and the cemetery in the town of Zaachila, near the eponymous archaeological site. They derive from a yearly mural contest and remain in place till the artists or wall owners decide to remove them.
The “sand painting” pictures on the same street are temporary. Interestingly, they seem for the most part to be offered by public agencies, like the traffic police.
(The usual name for them is “sand paintings” even though little sand is involved. In this case the term refers to collages displayed flat on the ground (or on a low table) made with flowers, seeds, flour, bits of bark, and other natural products, Rose-Parade-fashion. I suspect that the underlying base is usually a wooden board covered with a layer of soft clay. Unless it’s not.)
Background Design: Artisanal Paper, Francisco Toledo