Los Muertos de Las Guerras Injustas (2008)

melanie cervantes
20″ x 27″
4-Color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Archival Lenox paper, Printed in Oakland, CA 2008

Días de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a holiday that focuses on gatherings of family and friends to remember friends, relatives and others who have died. The celebration occurs on the 1st and 2nd of November.Scholars trace the origins of the modern holiday to indigenous observances dating back thousands of years, and to a Mexica (Aztec) festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl (known in English as “The Lady of the Dead”).This year, 2008, I decided to make an ofrenda (spiritual offering) on Dia de Los Muertos to all the people who have been killed in the recent wars. It is important to me that people realize that not only are women and children are being killed but that the soldiers of war are also dying all for the benifit of a few war profiteers. It saddens me that as the economy worsens, military recruiting strengthens.