Review: Path to the Altar: Community Ofrendas

Mexic-Arte exhibit explores ancient roots in modern life

Reviewed by Cat McCarrey, Fri., Oct. 25, 2024

Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center Altar - (photo by Julio Martinez)

Día de los Muertos honors the souls of the dead, a day for mourning and familial reminiscence. In Mexic-Arte’s latest exhibit, “Path to the Altar: Community Ofrendas,” the elaborate ofrendas, or offerings to guide spirits home, honor more than the individual. These altars are made not just by the community. They’re for the community.

For “Path to the Altar,” Mexic-Arte paired commissioned ofrendas with visual inspiration from pieces in their permanent collection. Photographs by Mary J. Andrade highlight the long reach of Latin American celebration of this connective holiday. Works by local graffiti artist Federico Archuleta use skeletal imagery to remind the viewer of all-encompassing love after death and the hope behind the immigrant experience. Multimedia artist Michael Menchaca’s video work “El Viaje” displays a conglomeration of cultures through the journey of souls to the spirit world of Mictlan. Menchaca combines ancient traditional figures with Catholic imagery and their own symbological codex (like cartoonish stray cats representing immigrant resilience) to create a delicious pop culture historical codex. In the back annex, etchings, sketches, and traditional relics depict the Indigenous creator god Quetzalcóatl – a feathered serpent whose visage inspires parts of the upcoming Viva La Vida celebration – alongside altars created by families and the Mexic-Arte community. These beautifully illuminate messages of ancestral roots.

Three of the altars were assembled by local organizations that uplift local Latino culture. The first ofrenda honors Emma S. Barrientos, who founded what is now known as the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, which preserves and teaches Mexican American cultural arts. Strewn with marigolds, their altar bursts with yellow and turquoise. It’s also a traditional introduction to the medium. The altar displays vibrant colors and personal artifacts, while also showing how the assembly of the altars reaches back to the four elements held sacred by Indigenous tribes. Look for the nods in each ofrenda to earth (grains and flowers), water (beverages for the deceased, sometimes water but also the occasional tequila bottle), fire (candles), and air (shown through papel picado, delicate cut paper banners waving in the wind).

The other two community groups are more overtly focused on honoring culture through immigration. Ofrendas sponsored by MAS Cultura and the joint efforts of La Peña and the South Texas Human Rights Center both speak to the intense optimism behind immigration to America. MAS Cultura connects Latino artists to resources to help them thrive, and uses their altar to honor the deaths of 53 immigrants who were discovered in a trailer outside San Antonio in 2022. They’ve created a migration-themed work, using monarch butterflies to symbolize the 53 souls who sacrificed everything in the name of hope.

La Peña and the South Texas Human Rights Center’s incredibly affecting ofrenda, “Dying to Cross,” is dedicated to STHRC founder Eddie Canales. In addition to providing water posts for immigrants, STHRC also recovers and identifies human remains from lost travelers. Their ofrenda is dominated by a large picture of a skeleton laid out as though on a forensic table. The picture is surrounded with labeled bags of bones, marigolds, and pots of human remains alternated with chile pepper plants: It’s death, closely wrapped up in dreams of a better life.

Symbols of ebullient remembrance continue in two family altars. One features the origins of Austin’s 5th Street Mexican American Heritage Corridor, particularly through Arriaga-Gonzales ancestors Ygnacio and Bernardina. This couple dedicated themselves to strengthening a cultural center. Crowning the ofrenda are giant posters, some dating back to the early 1800s, of community events. On the ofrenda an ancient Bible, newspaper clippings, and photos spotlight the lineage of this family and of Austin’s deep Mexican American roots.

The final altar moves the ofrendas closer to the modern era, narrowing focus by honoring Ollin Silvestre Chávez Martínez, who would have been 40 this year. The Chávez Martínez family has been active participants at Mexic-Arte. Ollin, a gifted musician, used his talent to enrich the local arts scene. Ollin is Nahuatl for “life” or “heart,” and his altar is topped with the associated Aztec symbol, most recognizable for its use in the center of ancient calendars. A circle, often an eye, emanates lines like the sun’s rays. It’s often used to convey balance and self-reflection.

Balance is at the core of Día de los Muertos, a holiday that somehow wraps mourning and joy into a perfectly equal package. “Path to the Altar” delights in that delicate road, displaying solemn respect for the past and glorious hope for the future.

Mexic-Arte Museum’s 41st Annual Viva La Vida Festival and Parade, Austin’s largest and longest-running Día de los Muertos event, take place Saturday, Oct. 26.