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Jean Campbell - Dayo the Dead
Category: Sculpture.
“Dayo the Dead” is made with sculptural peyote and is embellished with applique, fringe, and free-from sculptural techniques.
“Los Dias de Muertos” or “The Days of the Dead” is a time-honored Mexican tradition that blends ancient Aztec and Catholic beliefs. According to the celebration’s myth, ancestors rise from the dead to be with their loved ones for a few hours to feast.
For survivors, preparing for the celebration is a rigorous task—the perfect food, flowers, decorations (“calacas”), and candles are purchased to deck home altars and cemeteries; gravesites are repaired, cleaned and painted; and the family holds a vigil to greet the departed.
The celebration has a rigorous schedule for the dead, too. October 27 marks the day in which survivorless spirits arise; October28 greets those who died in violence; October 31 brings the souls of dead children. By the afternoon of November 1 all these souls must go back to whence they came so that families can greet the souls of adults. By midnight the reverie has turned into solemn graveside prayer vigil, and by the end of November 2 the celebration is over.
In effect, the Days of the Dead celebrate and affirm life by mocking, revering, and celebrating death. In my mind, Dayo the Dead—a calaca featuring death as a puppet dressed in full fiesta wear—evokes a real sense of this myth.