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Día de los Muertos

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In the 1970s, artists and activists began transforming the Day of the Dead into a celebration of Mexican American heritage and Chicano identity, blending a reclamation of Aztec Pre-Columbian Indigenous roots, Catholic imagery, contemporary culture, creative expression, and political resistance. Prior to the 1970s, Día de los Muertos was predominantly celebrated among the rural working-class in Mexico and Mexican families in the diaspora– but rituals were typically private and solemn. As Mexican migration to the US grew alongside the Chicano civil rights movement and the 1970 Chicano Moratorium, a new Chicano identity arose to reject melting-pot assimilation and develop a communal political consciousness. Self-Help Graphics in East Los Angeles, born out of this movement championing Chicano identity and art, is credited as helping bring Día de los Muertos to the United States.

SHG’s first Día de los Muertos in 1972 consisted of college students and children in handmade costumes marching from Evergreen cemetery in Boyle Heights to SHG’s location. The following years expanded the event to include street parades, ofrendas, processions, paper fashions, and festival celebration. They took inspiration from Mexican printmaker Jose Guadelupe Posada’s skeleton imagery, particularly La Calavera Catrina, a satirical depiction of a wealthy Mexican woman attempting to look European by wearing European fashion. Over the years, their celebrations grew, featuring contributions from notable Chicanx artists Ofelia Esparza, Consuelo Flores, Margaret Garcia, the Chicano collective ASCO, and many others.

Social and Public Art Resource Center has held an annual public Día de los Muertos celebration since 2002, led by Martha Ramirez-Oropeza. Ramirez-Oropeza is a mural painter and performer who studied under Siqueiros and Judy Baca. Ramirez-Oropeza worked with artist Patricia Quijano Ferrer on Tlazolteotl: Fuerza Creadora de lo No Tejido (1999), the Mexican pannel of Judy Baca's World Wall project. She now teaches a class on “The Day of the Dead Ritual” at UCLA, in which students build their own altars and explore the evolution of the holiday. SPARC’s celebration brings together the muralist community, the Venice arts community, and the Oaxacan population of Westside to build a community ofrenda honoring deceased loved ones and offering gifts to guide the returning souls. Ramirez-Oropeza guides a traditional invocation ritual conducted in English, Spanish, and Nahuatl to invite the spirits to join in the celebration. The event also features Aztec dancers and traditional foods, like Oaxacan tamales and tacos.

Sources:
 
Avila, Pamela. “How the Women Who Brought Día de Los Muertos to L.A. Carry on the Tradition.” Los Angeles Magazine, 2018. https://lamag.com/lahistory/day-of-the-dead.  
Barnes, Kathyrn. “How the 1970 Chicano Moratorium sparked Día de los Muertos in LA.” KCRW, 2021. https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/climate-dia-de-los-muertos/evergreen-cemetery. 
Dobrin, Isabel. “Day Of The Dead Thrives In U.S. And Mexico.” NPR, 2017. https://www.npr.org/2017/11/02/561527322/mexicos-celebrated-d-a-de-los-muertos-evolves-in-the-u-s. 
Mejorado, Rebekah. “Traditions and Change: The Transformation of Día de los Muertos in the United States.” Smithsonian American Art Museum, October 27, 2022. https://americanart.si.edu/blog/dia-de-los-muertos-united-states. 
Riefe, Jordan. “How Modern Day Día de los Muertos Came to L.A.” PBS SoCal, Accessed July 21, 2025. https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbound/self-help-graphics-and-the-birth-of-modern-day-dia-de-los-muertos.
Wouk Almino, Elisa. “This Día de Los Muertos, Help Create a Beautiful Altar to the Dead.” Hyperallergic, October 27, 2020. https://hyperallergic.com/597558/dia-de-los-muertos-sparc/. 

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