About the Exhibition
For this special exhibition and collaboration with the University of Louisville, 21c Museum will display a site-specific altar by Lexington-based artist Robert Morgan, and three altars by professors and students at the University that interpret these celebratory reliquaries in a contemporary context. The UofL altars will include one dedicated to Frida Kahlo by Dr. Chris Fulton and his students, a glass altar by Professor of Art Che Rhodes and advanced Glass Art students, and a dedication to “Las Victimas de Jaurez” (Dead Women of Jaurez) by Professor of Art Gabrielle Mayer and her painting class. In addition, Luci Mistratov’s silk painting class has created the title banner that will be hung outside the exhibition gallery.
Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is a joyous holiday, that blends native Aztec and Roman Catholic traditions and beliefs to celebrate and honor the lives of deceased friends and family members. In this tradition, death is not seen as the end, but rather a new stage of life. It is now celebrated with cultural variations in areas throughout Latin America and the United States.
