Dia de los Muertos Community Exhibit & Celebration

For the past six years, GO ART! has hosted a vibrant Día de los Muertos Festival in Medina. This year’s event is reimagined as an exhibit-based cultural education program, keeping the traditions alive while helping to provide accessibility and safety.

Exhibit & Festival Features

Large Ofrenda (altar): For community members and students to place battery-operated candles, photos, and letters to loved ones.

Mojigangas: Giant papier-mâché or cardboard puppets, often 10–12 feet tall.They’re worn over a performer’s body with a harness or frame. The person inside sees through a mesh or cutout near the puppet’s neck or chest. They are common in Día de los Muertos, weddings, patron saint festivals, and parades. They represent skeletons, La Catrina, famous figures, or caricatures of townspeople. Their purpose is to bring humor, liveliness, and visual spectacle to the celebration, a mix of satire and joy symbolizing the unity of life and death.

Storyboard Wall: Large, bilingual (English/Spanish) visual timeline introducing the history, meaning, and evolution of Día de los Muertos — from its Indigenous roots to modern-day traditions.

Video Screenings: Past festival footage and short documentaries played on screens.

Interactive Kids’ Activities (field trips & public):

Tissue paper marigolds (symbolic flower).

“Catrina” figurines (cone dress, marshmallow head, tissue hat, pipe cleaner arms, Día de los Muertos designs).

Picture frame + remembrance letter project (for altar display).

Cultural Introduction: Brief introduction of Medina Triennial and Dia de los Muertos at 11:30 am and 2 pm by Federico Rosario, Community Engagement & Programs Coordinator of Medina Triennial.