Rooted in Ancestors
An Invitational Exhibition Exploring Ancestor Worship Through Altar Making
Nine artists from diverse racial and cultural experiences gather to explore the creation of altars as filtered through their own approaches to remembering and honoring the dead.
Though traditionally associated with Meso-American cultures, (the most famous being the Mexican Day of the Dead), all cultures have traditionally honored the dead, and many cultures retain varying elements of ancestor worship or remembrance to this day.
Rooted in Ancestors opens Friday November 5, 2010 from 6:00 to 10:00 PM at 124 W. Diamond Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122-1721.
Participating Artists
Participating artists include Semilla Gallery’s Cofounders: Betsy Casañas & Pedro Ospina, John McDaniel, Nannette Clark, Robert Phillips, Dino Vazquez, Jerry Macdonald, Jane Madrigal, and Brujo de La Mancha. The show is being documented by Rafael Damast.
Curatorial Statement
Rooted In Ancestors is an invitational show asking nine artists to explore the creation of altars as filtered through their own cultural experiences of honoring ancestors. Their individual approach to the curatorial call (the creation of altars) is varied, rich, diverse, and deeply personal.
Some of the artists have chosen to focus their altars on honoring the lives and memories of loved ones through the use of visual and referential elements including photos, mementos, and personal objects, while others have chosen a more universal view of the subject, referencing nature, migration, religion, and the role that healers play in guarding the sacred knowledge that is part of what is passed down from one generation to the next. The undertaking of curating this show has been an enriching, rewarding, humbling, and transformative experience. I thank all of those involved for such blind trust.
Through this process I have had the pleasure of working with both of Semilla's founders, Betsy Cazanas, and Pedro Ospina, as well as meeting new artists whose generosity of spirit in giving of themselves for this show without remuneration, defines the very essence of community, and honors the legacies of those who came before. Their voices are captured by Rafael Damast in his video documenting the show. To Rafael, thank you for creating this video without reward, your generosity exemplifies art as a reciprocal gift.
As the show’s curator I am also deeply aware of the risks inherent in asking these nine artists to respond to the subject of ancestors. There are personal risks when you ask any individual (whether they are artists or not) to remember the past: to mine memory, love, loss, joy, pain; to open doors. I am also profoundly aware that I am asking you, the viewer, to do the same. Thank you for taking the risk. I hope you find the experience of this show rich and rewarding; a way of remembering, of honoring, and reexamining the past, which is intrinsically tied to how we imagine a future.
Sincerely,
David Acosta, Curator
Rooted in Ancestors
Exhibition Photographs of Artists Altars (Gerald Macdonald)
Brujo de La Mancha. Altar to the dead who die crossing the US/Mexico Border.
Jane Madrigal, Altar to the Ancestors.
John MacDaniel, Voodoo Altar.
Nannette Clark, Voodoo altar.
Pedro Ospina, Altar to the Dead.
Robert Phillips, Irish Altar to the dead.
Nannette Clark, John MacDaniel, & Jane Madrigal.
Brujo de la Mancha
Guests at opening reception.
Welcoming the dead ritual. Betsy Casañas and Brujo de la Mancha.
Artists and guests at reception.
Guests at reception.