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NOV. 10, 2021
Santa Monica Celebrates Día de los Muertos
Michael Beeson | Staff Writer Narayan Pereda | Staff Writer
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n Saturday, Oct. 30, Santa Monica hosted its 11th annual Día de los Muertos event at the city’s Third Street Promenade. The festivities, organized by Downtown Santa Monica Inc., included traditional dancing, live music, face painting, as well as vendors from the Angel City Market. The event celebrated Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), which is a Mexican holiday originating approximately 3,000 years ago. The holiday was created to show respect and to honor the dead. Today, Latinos, especially Mexicans, from all around the world gather every Nov. 1-2 to celebrate the lives of their past family members and ancestors. The holiday is significant to many people, including Normz La Oaxaqueña, an organizer of the event. “This year has a whole meaning for me and it is something special for me now,” said La Oaxaqueña. This is her first time organizing the event in Santa Monica for Día de los Muertos. She decided to coordinate it because the holiday is a strong part of her culture. La Oaxaqueña is Oaxaqueña, which refers to her connection to the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and Día de los Muertos is one of the most important days to her people. To La Oaxaqueña, the holiday is a beautiful tradition because it commemorates the lives of her past loved ones. “Losing a loved one is sad and tragic, so this holiday allows you to
Jon Putman | The Corsair Día de los Muertos performers get ready for their planned performance behind the main stage at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif. on October 30, 2021.
keep their memory alive,“ she said. There are people in other Latin American countries who celebrate Día de los Muertos, however, the traditions vary from country to country. Lorena Oliveros is a Colombian woman who participated in the event this year. Oliveros shared that her native Colombia incorporates certain aspects of the holiday, which includes visiting cemeteries and lighting candles to honor deceased family members. Oliveros decided to take part in this event because the celebratory at-
mosphere makes her feel like she is at home. What she enjoyed about the tradition surrounding the Latin holiday was the ofrendas, which are offerings made in an altar to dedicate a lost loved one. Throughout the celebration, which continued until approximately 10 p.m., passersby like Ana Hernandez stumbled upon the event on Third Street Promenade. Hernandez is of Mexican descent and Día de los Muertos brings her closer to a part of her cultural identity. Although Hernandez did not have
prior knowledge of the event, she felt gravitated towards it because of the live Latin music performed by various artists. “I just heard the music and I liked the music," said Hernandez. There are several different ways to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, and to keep alive the memory of lost loved ones. Santa Monica combined the most universal aspects of this rich tradition to create a meaningful celebration for the community.
Black Image Center Preserves Memories For Black Families Zipporah Pruitt | Staff Writer
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n Oct. 22 through 24, the Black Image Center, a Los Angeles organization created by a group of young photographers, hosted a pop-up event called The Black Family Archive. The exhibit, held at the Community Build Organization Center in Leimert Park, showcased photos of the authentic Black experience in America. The Black Image Center’s mission is to preserve the visual imagery of Black Americans. They do so by hosting workshops and providing equipment for Black families to catalogue their photos and preserve their memories. The organization aims to provide free and low-cost photography services to young artists from disadvantaged communities. They hope to stimulate imagination and empower Black storytellers and creatives. The event is produced by the teams of the artist-led organization known as For Freedoms and Converse. These two groups teamed up in order to make the pop-up that can help Black people connect to their history and preserve their legacies. Maya Mansour, a founding member of
Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair Jessica Neal recieves a family portrait after scanning and archiving in Los Angeles, Calif. on October 23, 2021.
Black Image Center, got her start by photographing the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and curated this pop-up. “We wanted to create a space to kind of garner that same excitement that we had for our own family archives… Most of the vendors are Black women.” Mansour said. The event was also backed by vendors of different varieties, including performers and live music. Kicking off the event was art provid-
ed by Adee Roberson, a Black artist who worked with an initiative known as Hear Her Here, which seeks to make a space for Black femme artists. As the event happened, her art, a mural made of portraits of Black people, was on display at the back of the building. “[Roberson] uses her family photos as the raw material for her screen printing practice,” Mansour said. The Black Image Center has many
ways of preserving Black families’ history. The organization provides consultations where those interested can create a preservation plan with an expert on film. Options for families include scanning existing photos to a computer or hard drive or converting digital photos to printed copies. Finally, the Black Image Center also offers rehousing services to keep and preserve damaged, deteriorating and loose photos in a safe place. The pop-up also gifted film to attendees via a featured exhibit dubbed the Free Film Fridge. This was provided by the organizers so that young artists can access additional resources to document Black experience. Film is often a costly barrier to entry for beginner and experienced photographs, and this resource gives them an extra opportunity to further their skills. Mansour provided some final reflections on the event. “I think that our goal, in putting together this event, is really to kind of highlight… the building blocks of Black history,” Mansour said. “It’s been really amazing to see Black families work with Black archivists to bond over how exciting it is to see photos of [their] ancestors.”
