The 2009 Día de los Muertos poster: a work in progress / Kiriko Moth
Kiriko Moth, a local artist who is designing the poster for this year’s Día de los Muertos celebration, alerts us to some troubling financial news:
The Marigold Project is a nonprofit organization who, for 30 years has been dedicated to preserving, promoting, and sharing the traditional Meso-American rituals surrounding the Dia de los Muertos. And now they need your help! The city has raised permit fees and the organization is in a funding crisis. Visit their website at www.dayofthedeadsf.org to learn more and donate to their organization, because without the support of the community this amazing event cannot continue!
(link)
I know calaveras can look similar and all, but damn if that doesn’t look like a Sylvia Ji knockoff: http://tiny.cc/sylviaji
Hi Tens,
I was aware of and admire Sylvia Ji’s artwork and was concerned myself about similarities, so I specifically didn’t use any of them for reference. I referred to photos of people in Dia de los Muertos makeup and costumes, some traditional ‘folk art’ sculptures, and the classic etching of Calavera Catrina http://tinyurl.com/pxx6a6
- her earrings are directly inspired by the tassels from that image.
I think our styles are distinctly different, but the subject matter IS the same, so I suppose the comparisons will inevitably happen!
Thank you for acknowledging the financial challenges we are having with securing the necessary permits for Garfield Park and the Festival of Altars. It is possible that permit requirements will continue to increase and the support from community members will continue to be a vital part of the festival’s survival. Please stop by our table at Garfield Park for more information on the night of the event.
Just for clarity: Marigold Project organizes the Festival of Altars in Garfield Park and is part of a large group of local organizations including, but not limited to, Rescue Culture Collective, Mission Cultural Center, Galeria de la Raza, Encantada, Somarts, and Casa Bonambak that have worked to preserve and promote the tradition of Dia de los Muertos in the Mission.
Please contact maicaf@earthlink.net if you would like to create an altar at Garfield Park. We will see you on Monday, November 2nd!
Wow, even the flowers look similar. try a lil harder to look different next time.
http://klosetkase.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/sylvia-ji2.jpg
I’m sorry you think they look so similar, Rob. My flowers are marigolds, for the Marigold Project, and which are traditional for Dia de los Muertos. The flowers in the picture you linked to appear to be roses.
A little video of Dia de los Muertos in San Francisco, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eowl1WS6tkc
That’s funny how the woman in the poster is a White woman, yet the celebration is a Native American celebration and is being celebrated in the Mission. The Marigold Project should stop fostering a belief that Native American celebrations can be adopted by White people to fulfill their emptiness from lacking culture. Next time, Marigold Project, stick to reality and change the skin color to brown–and stop trying to foster Kiriko Moth’s, Sylvia Ji’s, and others’ fantasy of having Day of the Dead as part of their culture and instead promote for the Native Americans–the people which the celebration belongs to.
Dia de los Muertos is not exclusively Native American. It’s the blend of Indigenous and Spanish traditions. You can’t deny one while having the other. In Mexico people of all backgrounds and colors have been celebrating this day for centuries. It belongs to not just one culture, but the mixture of several. Just as Mexico is indigenous, it is also white…hence the term mestizo.
do you have your poster for sale?
I love this kind of artwork! Its soo interesting. Where could someone buy artwork like this?
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