A Uniquely Mexican Celebration In Wellington

WHAT: Dia de los Muertos / Day of the Dead exhibition

WHERE: ROAR! gallery, 55 Abel Smith St

WHEN: Opening 25th October at 5.30pm – 10th November

A Uniquely Mexican Celebration Gets Hold Of Wellington

ROAR! gallery is well known for having it’s ear to the ground, picking up the ideas and movements from the shakers and the makers. This year the word was happening around Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican festival Day of the Dead. We looked around and were excited to find Fullbright Fellow William Franco here in Wellington. William is a Chicano –a Mexican born on the U.S. side of the border – and along with his partner and fellow artist Miki Seifert, is well-known for their authentic Dia de los Muertos altars and contemporary art installations. William leant how to make sugar skulls while travelling in Mexico and has made the first sugar skulls in the Southern Hemisphere for this exhibition.

William and Miki will be recreating their installation ‘No Olvidado / Don’t Forget Me’, as well as collaborating with another artist of Mexican descent, Andrea Peterson, to create three traditional altars or ofrendas, at ROAR! gallery from Thursday 25th October. This work has been proudly supported by the Mexican Consulate. For more information and images of William and Miki’s work, you can visit www.speckledgekko.com

Day of the Dead is a vibrant, colourful and historic celebration of people who have died as well as the continuity of life. A combination of traditions from ancient Aztec traditions and the Catholic ‘All Saints Day’, November the 1st and 2nd are thought to be the days of the year when the dead get the chance to return again to earth and visit their loved ones. A social and festive time, elaborate foods are prepared, as well as elaborately decorated altars which honour the dead by placing on them all of the things they loved in life. Marigolds are “the flowers of the dead” and are used to decorate altars and strewn on the ground, as their scent and bright colours are thought to help the deceased find the altar prepared for them.

We also wanted to inject some notion of Dia de los Muertos into the Wellington art community to see how this uniquely Mexican idea could infuse into New Zealand art. William and Miki workshopped the ideas around the celebration to a group of enthusiastic Wellington artists, and we are proud to present alongside their exhibition a colourful and extravagant exploration and celebration of all things which have passed over to the other side. Karen Dale has explored a New Zealand twist on the theme by creating three dimensional and drawn representations of birds which are now extinct here, while Sian Torrington has made altars for Frida Kahlo out of all things everyday transformed into the extraordinary. We will feature new works by Sam Broad, dioramas by Mary Laine, work form Marianne Muggeridge, Roger Morris, and much much more (including Elvis and Johnny Cash on the other side).

Don’t miss the opportunity to see a very unique insight into Mexican culture and art and a very New Zealand response from some superb Wellington artists.

Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead … showing at ROAR! gallery, 1st floor, 55 Abel Smith Steet, 25 Oct – 10 Nov.

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