Photo by Nils Juul-Hansen

This is from a shoot we did with Nils last year for the Disko De Los Muertos
posters, I just dug up them up again! I was in such a design frenzy
at the time, that I neglected to give the individual images their due:
they are so many fabulous ones, but I put a few up in the Muertos set.

For reasons unknown to us, Mexic-Arte Museum gets an early headstart
on kicking off the Día de los Muertos festivities around here – this weekend
they had their annual Viva la Vida Festival and Muertos Procession.
I slapped on some bone-face and sped down there, missing the parade alas,
but finding a twilight fiesta in the street replete with sidewalk banquets
and a horde of calaveras. I fell in love with the mural on the side of the museum.

The delicate shades in the setting sun were just too gorgeous to be believed.

The golden stenciling inspired many photo-op frenzies.

This is my favorite photograph of the night. It just kills me! Baby super-heroes.

Danse Macabre, eh?

I adored the paper avocados and watermelons. So much beauty.

Inside the musuem, there’s a great exhibit of ofrendas, some very traditional
and others more conceptual. If you find yourself in town, I recommend stopping by.

I had fun posing with various families that wanted a picture with a sparkly dead lady.

This a a photograph of a photograph by Geoff Winningham,
who is incredible. I had to take a picture of it, after I stood
staring for the longest time. You could fall right into it.

The placard nearby read:
“Todos Santos (All Saints) is a fiesta celebrated throughout Mexico
on November 1 and 2. Commonly known as the Day of the Dead,
it, like many Mexican fiestas, can be traced to pre-Hispanic times.
The Aztecs celebrated two feasts of the dead in the fall of each year:
one, the Feast of the Little Ones, was in memory of the children who
had died; the other, the Feast of the Big Ones, was for adults who had
died. Although the Spanish friars forbade the Indians to have feasts
in the cemetery, commemorations of the dead continued throughout
Mexico as the Indians changes their dates to coincide with All Saints Day
and All Souls Day on the Catholic calendar. Today, the Day of the Dead
is celebrated, with varying customs, everywhere in Mexico.
Rather than being macabre or frightening, it is a festive time of reunion.”

See also:

Verhext – Calaveras & Candles

Día de los Muertos – R.I.P. Studs Terkel

Santissima Muerte!