Dia de los Muertos 2017: Berta Cáceres Ofrenda
On Wednesday, November 1st, 2017, the UIC Latino Cultural Center partnered with the National Museum of Mexican Art to showcase an ofrendaaltar installation at the NMMA’s Dia de los Muertos: After Dark event. Theofrenda honored Berta Cáceres, a Honduran environmental and human rights activist who was murdered last year as a result of her activism. This interactive installation showcased aspects of a traditional ofrenda, while allowing visitors to contribute to and learn from it. Visitors added objects such as bread, candles, and sugar skulls to the installation. In addition, a river model was created, representing the importance of water to human life. Visitors were encouraged to contribute messages about their own connections to nature and natural resources. Visitors were also invited to learn more about Berta Cáceres and the Latino Cultural Center, through videos, zines, and souvenirs. Highlights of this ofrenda included a t-shirt created for the one year anniversary of Berta’s assassination given to us by Gaspar Sanchez, a current leader of COPINH and a portrait of Berta Cáceres by local artist Esperanza Gama, who the LCC collaborated with for theARTivism: Stolen Lives.