Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos, my most favorite time of year in Mexico and especially in San Miguel de Allende where they have a week long celebration with altars around town and the people dress in beautiful Calaca costumes. This celebration is where friends and family members gather to celebrate the lives of those who have died. It’s a spiritual journey with death being viewed as a natural part of the human experience. It's not a day of sadness but one of celebration honoring that person who has died.

 

The skeleton was brought to life originally in 1912 by Jose Guadalupe Posada and then further embodied by Diego Rivera in his mural “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon along Central Alameda”. La Calaca has become a fixed Icon representing a neutralizing force between the rich and the poor, yet a powerful symbol of the Day of the Dead.

 

La Calaca includes various thin delicate aluminum shavings from a metal lathe combined together with the paper shapes. That is then mounted on a brilliant white watercolor paper which is then mounted on a hand-etched aluminum plate that has a brushed on blackened finish texture.

 

The artwork was created using fade-resistant papers, UV-protected spray, and UV museum quality anti-reflection glass and sealed in a deep high-quality wood shadowbox frame.