About Me

I'm a PhD student researching the role of the archaeological dead in contemporary British society. Think of this as a scrapbook of all the interesting links, snippets of information and random bits and bobs I come across pertaining to death, dying and the dead. Enjoy?!

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    Spooky shots of volunteers wearing nothing but white sheets at the Festival of Skeletons… taken to mark Day of the Dead For a man whose career is taking pictures of naked volunteers, these photos will hardly be shocking. But to the average viewer these shots by Spencer Tunick - taken early morning at the Festival de Calacas (Festival of Skeletons) in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico - will be rather spooky. Mr Tunick, 45, used the eerie landscape of Los Senderos village and 150 volunteers in white sheets for his ‘Spirits’ project, to mark the Day of the Dead - which pays tribute to people who have died. Mr Tunick, who was born in 1967 in Middletown, New York, trained at the International Center of Photography in Manhattan before studying at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been creating astonishing human art installations for the past 20 years, gathering hundreds or thousands of naked volunteers, aiming to create scenes where humans blend with landscape. One memorable previous effort saw him photograph 1,800 naked people arranged in the coloured seats of the Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna, Austria, which hosted the Euro 2008 football final. Mr Tunick boasts on his website that he has been arrested five times while trying to work outdoors in New York City since 1992, with the last of these coming in 1999 in Times Square, Manhattan. However Mr Tunick was so desperate to continue working on New York’s streets that he filed a lawsuit against the city to protect himself and participants from future arrests - which he won. But his website adds that he has not worked on the streets of New York in a decade, after he was rejected when applying for his first New York City permit after winning his case against the city. Now it seems Mr Tunick has found a soft spot for travelling south to work in San Miguel de Allende. He told the New York Times in June of this year: ‘I head down to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico quite often these days where I have learned to appreciate a good tequila like Casa Dragones.’

    Spooky shots of volunteers wearing nothing but white sheets at the Festival of Skeletons… taken to mark Day of the Dead

    For a man whose career is taking pictures of naked volunteers, these photos will hardly be shocking.

    But to the average viewer these shots by Spencer Tunick - taken early morning at the Festival de Calacas (Festival of Skeletons) in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico - will be rather spooky.

    Mr Tunick, 45, used the eerie landscape of Los Senderos village and 150 volunteers in white sheets for his ‘Spirits’ project, to mark the Day of the Dead - which pays tribute to people who have died.

    Mr Tunick, who was born in 1967 in Middletown, New York, trained at the International Center of Photography in Manhattan before studying at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.

    He has been creating astonishing human art installations for the past 20 years, gathering hundreds or thousands of naked volunteers, aiming to create scenes where humans blend with landscape.

    One memorable previous effort saw him photograph 1,800 naked people arranged in the coloured seats of the Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna, Austria, which hosted the Euro 2008 football final.

    Mr Tunick boasts on his website that he has been arrested five times while trying to work outdoors in New York City since 1992, with the last of these coming in 1999 in Times Square, Manhattan.

    However Mr Tunick was so desperate to continue working on New York’s streets that he filed a lawsuit against the city to protect himself and participants from future arrests - which he won.

    But his website adds that he has not worked on the streets of New York in a decade, after he was rejected when applying for his first New York City permit after winning his case against the city.

    Now it seems Mr Tunick has found a soft spot for travelling south to work in San Miguel de Allende.

    He told the New York Times in June of this year: ‘I head down to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico quite often these days where I have learned to appreciate a good tequila like Casa Dragones.’

    thisbelongsinamuseum:

    Every year the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago has a Day of the Dead exhibit. The only Latino museum accredited by the American Association of Museums, it has the country’s largest Mexican art collection. So it’s fitting the museum also has one of the biggest displays of Día de los Muertos. There are numerous altars and related art by local and international artists. And that’s not it. There is also a sugar skull demonstration along with foot pedal loom weaving and wood carving. And it’s all FREE!!! Well, except if you want to take home a souvenir Day of the Dead ceramic figure, that will cost you. 

    In case you didn’t already know, Día de los Muertos is a day to celebrate the lives of deceased loved ones. It is believed that on this day, the souls of the dead travel back to earth. Leaving an altar with an offering for the souls ensures that they will find their way home. This year the ancient ways and traditions of Hanal Pixán (food for the souls) from the Yucatan Peninsula was the theme of many of the ofrendas (installations) in the museum. I remember a number of years ago the exhibit honored late Chicago artist Ed Paschke, well, this time Mayor Daley’s late wife Maggie was represented with not just an altar, but an entire room. Hey, it pays to be related to the king, I guess, even in death. Anyway, I’ll let the art speak for itself. Enjoy.

    ¡Feliz Día de los Muertos!

    Sugar skulls and ‘rotten’ bananas: Mexico’s surprising tastes Mexico’s culinary traditions and new flavours are finding new audiences as people around the world celebrate Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead). It’s unlikely that the first thing that springs to mind when you think of Mexican food is a dish of fermented banana. But this flavour is quintessentially Mexican, says chef Enrique Olvera. Mr Olvera serves what he fondly refers to as “rotten bananas” at his restaurant Pujol, in Mexico City. He says one of his strongest childhood food memories is that of his grandmother serving practically black bananas, and it is this distinctly Mexican flavour that he recreates. Read more here!

    Sugar skulls and ‘rotten’ bananas: Mexico’s surprising tastes

    Mexico’s culinary traditions and new flavours are finding new audiences as people around the world celebrate Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead).

    It’s unlikely that the first thing that springs to mind when you think of Mexican food is a dish of fermented banana.

    But this flavour is quintessentially Mexican, says chef Enrique Olvera.

    Mr Olvera serves what he fondly refers to as “rotten bananas” at his restaurant Pujol, in Mexico City.

    He says one of his strongest childhood food memories is that of his grandmother serving practically black bananas, and it is this distinctly Mexican flavour that he recreates.

    Read more here!

    Day of the Dead: From Mexico City to London Town The Day of the Dead celebrates the lives of loved ones who have died while also reminding people about their own mortality. The festival, which is known as “Dia de Muertos” in Spanish, is traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2 in Mexico. Seen as a fusion of Catholic and indigenous cultures, the festival is characterised by altars, visits to graves and celebrations with traditional food and music. But the festival is no longer only found in Mexico, with festivals cropping up in cities around Britain. Read more here!

    Day of the Dead: From Mexico City to London Town

    The Day of the Dead celebrates the lives of loved ones who have died while also reminding people about their own mortality.

    The festival, which is known as “Dia de Muertos” in Spanish, is traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2 in Mexico.

    Seen as a fusion of Catholic and indigenous cultures, the festival is characterised by altars, visits to graves and celebrations with traditional food and music.

    But the festival is no longer only found in Mexico, with festivals cropping up in cities around Britain.

    Read more here!

    Via the Wellcome Collection

    For our Day of the Dead event last year, we commissioned a short documentary exploring the tradition of  ‘Dia de los Muertos’. Filmmaker Betty Martins reflects on the relationship between truth, memory and representation.

    What I find very interesting in making films such as this one is the relationships that are initiated during the production process. The research, meeting the participants, the interviews and the editing is all about working on those relationships and that network-specific knowledge that we gain from this process, which is reflected in the direction that the work takes on until its final production.

    This project is the exercise and the documentation of people’s personal memories, and we shot over one hour of footage for each interview. When watching the unedited video again and again you feel like you’ve been immersed into their memories. And while you are imagining their past through their remembrances, trying to make sense of a narrative while editing carefully each piece, you are also kind of re-assembling those memories. You then develop a relationship of affection. And that’s how the final work becomes a result of the work of those relationships. It is naive to think a documentary is 100% honest to the actual facts, especially if your work is based on people’s memories. If you consider that even one’s individual memory is already a reconstruction of the actual facts, we can understand that the narratives and its representations are relational. That’s what happens with projects such as this one, and it is in these complexities that, from my point of view, there is an artistic value.

    Betty Martins is a filmmaker and educator. Find out more about her work at www.d-aep.org.

    (Source: wellcomecollection.wordpress.com)

    nuestrahermana:

    Dia De Los Muertos Is Not Your Halloween by Nuestra Hermana

    As we all know, Halloween in America is right around the corner. Kids & adults alike will be dressed up in costumes, consuming candy, attending parties, navigating through haunted houses and thoroughly enjoying their night. Think about your last Halloween and look at the images above.

    These are still shots of Dia De Los Muertos in Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, California & Arizona. They are small snippets of a vibrant, important and REAL holiday for Latin@s. This is not your Halloween.

    Dia De Los Muertos developed out of over 2,500 years of indigenous ritual celebrating death and paying respects to loved ones who have passed away. Scholars state that the Aztecs originally held a month long festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl, the ruler of the afterlife.

    After Spanish colonization and many attempts to eradicate the rituals & festival, a new merging with the Catholic holidays All Souls Day & All Saints Day developed over time to what is now Dia De Los Muertos.

    Dia De Los Muertos is celebrated November 1st & 2nd (in alignment with All Saints Day & All Souls Day respectively). It is NOT celebrated on October 31st, it is not tied in with Halloween in America at all.

    In Mexico, November 1st is dedicated as Dia De Los Inocentes, a day to honor and respect the innocents, children & infants to be more specific. November 2nd is Dia De Los Muertos, the day to honor deceased adults.

    On these days, altars are made in honor of them. People build them on their loved ones graves, at home or anywhere they find rightful to honor their loved ones. They make ofrendas (offerings) to the dead of their favorite foods, toys (for children), pictures, pan de muertos, sugar skulls and many other things that help guide the spirits of the dead safely to the altars. Marigolds, known as the flowers of the dead, are usually prominent in the altars.

    In Mexico, many people sleep overnight at the graves. Every ritual & altar is not the same everywhere. Many places have their own traditions and ways of honoring the dead. One thing is for sure, Dia De Los Muertos is not Halloween. It is a sacred time and holiday for Latin@s everywhere.

    So, when you’re dressing up for Halloween remember: doing this, this, this or this is not only disrespectful but it is also a erasure of someone’s real life culture. Think before you walk out of that door.

    (via mexicanisimo)

    Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Why am I so excited?! Because I am off to Mexico in November and will *finally* experience the legendary Dia de los Muertos - it’s on my list of things to do before I too shuffle off this mortal coil! Woohooooooo! I promise to take lots (and lots and lots…) of piccies! At the moment, I’m thinking of heading to Oaxaca for the celebrations, but if anyone has any better suggestions or other recommendations of things to do, then please let me know! ¡Muchas gracias!

    Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Why am I so excited?! Because I am off to Mexico in November and will *finally* experience the legendary Dia de los Muertos - it’s on my list of things to do before I too shuffle off this mortal coil! Woohooooooo! I promise to take lots (and lots and lots…) of piccies! At the moment, I’m thinking of heading to Oaxaca for the celebrations, but if anyone has any better suggestions or other recommendations of things to do, then please let me know! ¡Muchas gracias!