Dia de Los Muertos: Co-Creation, Resistance, and Healing
Photo courtesy of PACTL
On Saturday, November 2, more than 30,000 people gathered in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to participate in an annual event to commemorate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a cultural tradition practiced among many indigenous peoples of the Americas for over 3000 years. Traditionally, Dia de los Muertos is a day for honoring ancestors and other deceased loved ones by building altars that commemorate their lives, inviting them to visit with the living, and tending to their gravesites. This year the Hollywood Forever's event was named "Sacred Migrations" and its theme, the monarch butterfly.
A group of artists, parents, youth, staff and community members connected to the Pasadena / Altadena Coalition of Transformative Leaders (PACTL) entered a very moving installation “Following Our Dreams / Siguendo Nuestros Suenos” that raised awareness about the devastating consequences of US immigration policy and the separation of families. PACTL's altar was dedicated to the children who have died in ICE custody, in detention camps at the US / Mexico border. The altar used chain-link fencing, space blankets and other items to demonstrate the dire conditions in which children and families are held. The PACTL team was present to explain the installation and share knowledge about the immigrant experience.
Photo courtesy of PACTL
Most of the altars that day were intended only to be witnessed / viewed. Designed to offer both factual information and a visceral, emotional experience of the impacts of the situation at the border, this installation was the only one constructed to allow people to enter into the work of art. Over 1000 visitors immersed themselves in the multi-dimensional and participatory experience, which offered many points of entry, including a slide presentation, photos of the children who died, sacred objects with personal meaning contributed by the artists and performances, including mime, spoken word, and regional music to honor the original places of the children who had died.
Photo courtesy of PACTL
Helena Ayala, PACTL’s Family Support coordinator, shared that those who came into the PACTL installation often left in tears after learning the fate of the migrant children and getting a sense of the conditions that migrants face. Visitors shared their feelings of anger, shame, frustration and sadness verbally and in heartfelt messages tied to the chain link fence.
Evette Cisneros, PACTL Family Support Coordinator and Abriendo Puertas Faciliatator, reflected that the experience led many visitors to question US policy, prompting many to ask “Why are we doing this?” “How can we help?”
The next step for PACTL is to contact the families of the children who died to let them know that their memories were honored in this way and to share the prayers, blessings and heartfelt compassionate greetings that visitors left for the children and families on the fence.
PACTL, like Be Strong Families, is radically committed to co-creation, to staff walking alongside parents and supporting them as they lead the way in their families and for their communities. The planning process for the installation involved parents sharing their migration stories with each other, many for the first time. The experience of creating the installation, sharing and witnessing each other's stories, was transformational for the artists involved. One of the artists was moved to share her experience in the form of a spoken word poem at the Dia de Los Muertos event- a powerful testimony of how art, advocacy and collective action can help us cultivate resilience, even in the midst of adversity and trauma.
The wonderful team of volunteer artists who put the altar together with love and devotion: Sebastian Alebrije, Helena Ayala, Nora Caballero, Evette Cisneros, Miriam Cisneros, Diego De Los Andes, Alejandra Engelberg, Alicia Garduno, Libia Huerta, Martha Martinez, Yazmine Martinez (youth), Miriam Morataya (youth), Armando Pascual, Esperanza Pedraza, Leticia Ramirez., Veronica Rubio, and Roland E. Trevino.
Photo courtesy Helena Ayala/PACTL
With this blog and as part of a grassroots campaign to form A More Perfect Union (AMPU), Be Strong Families, as a national organization, AMPlifies local efforts to create a more just and humane society. In this case, we AMPlify PACTL's efforts to mourn the young casualties of our current immigration policy and to envision an immigration system that would support family well-being.
Article by: Alexis Moreno