Young People’s Ofrendas:
Expressions of Life and Remembrance

For the third consecutive year, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) partners with El Colegio, a Minneapolis magnet school that integrates research-based teaching strategies with Latino culture and traditions, to present a special exhibition celebrating El Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead). “Young People’s Ofrendas: Expressions of Life and Remembrance” features twenty student ofrendas (altars) created to honor and celebrate the lives of those who have died. A related Web site (www.artsmia.org/ofrenda) includes videos and blogs by the students documenting their creative processes.
El Día de los Muertos is celebrated on November 1 and 2 each year by people of Mexican heritage in Mexico and throughout the world to pay respect to deceased friends and relatives. Celebrants create ofrendas containing food,mementos, pictures, and flowers for the departed, whose souls are believed to return to visit on this holiday. Images of skulls and skeletons are commonly included to symbolize that death is a natural continuation of life.
New this year, the MIA will offer free Spanish-language tours of the museum, including the “Young Peope’s Ofrendas,” Sundays, October 17, 24, 31, and November 7 and 14, at 2 p.m. Tour guides and visitors will discuss what artworks say about life and death.