September 9, 2021 (Detroit)— The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), in collaboration with the Mexican Consulate of Detroit and the Southwest Detroit Business Association, will display 12 ofrenda altars, or offerings, created by local artists from Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021 — Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021 in celebration of Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), which honors the life and memory of lost loved ones. This year’s display, “Ofrendas: Celebrating el Día de Muertos,” marks the ninth consecutive year of the popular program. 

The annual exhibition, designed to familiarize visitors with ofrendas and the Day of the Dead tradition, builds a sense of community as visitors identify with the reasons and ways people honor the deceased while collectively taking part in the act of remembering. The display has become one of the DIA's most popular exhibitions.  

“Detroit has a vibrant Mexican American community and we are honored to share this important cultural and artistic tradition at the DIA,” said Salvador Salort-Pons, DIA director. “Our hope is that visitors from all backgrounds will make their own personal connections to each of this year’s ofrendas, as well as to the local artists who created them.” 

This year, 27 proposals were submitted from local artists and nine were selected to be on display. All submissions were juried by a selection committee of DIA staff and local community members of Mexican heritage. This year, there are three additional altars -- one from each of exhibition’s partners, the Mexican Consulate and the Southwest Detroit Business Association.  A final altar, featuring objects and decorations submitted by DIA staff serves as this year’s community ofrenda.  

The subjects of the ofrendas vary greatly -- some honor a personal loss of the artist, while others honor communal loss, highlighting current events and political issues. 

One of the participating artists, Coco Sweeny, created an ofrenda to honor her family friends who have passed away.  

Sweeny shared some insights on her ofrenda design: "My ofrenda has two main purposes: first, to remember and pay respects to my mother and father and to family and friends that are not physically with me but live in my heart. And, second, to celebrate my roots and heritage.”  

This year the museum will again offer a digital exhibition experience for those not able to visit the museum. Using an interface similar to Google Maps, viewers will be able to "walk-through" the exhibition and view each altar and the accompanying interpretative labels from home. 

The museum’s education department has online education resources for teachers to support this exhibition. Additional programming will be announced later. 

DIA admission tickets can be reserved online in advance at www.dia.org(opens in new window) or by calling 313-833-4005. Tickets are be timed to control attendance levels so a limited number of tickets will be available for each time slot. Mask are required for all visitors regardless of vaccination status. Admission is free for residents of Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties. 

Please contact Megan Hawthorne at [email protected] for photos from previous exhibitions.