Figure Item Number: 3462/3 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Day of the Dead figure. Figure depicts a skeleton holding an accordion. The back of the figure is flat, and its head is attached to its body via a thin metal rod. The figure's clothes are painted on, and consist of a white shirt, black pants and jacket, and red neck decoration. Pockets and lapels have been painted onto the jacket in white. X-shaped laces have been painted in white up the length of the figure's legs and arms. The figure is wearing a black sombrero, with a pointed cap and wide brim. Silver glitter is adhered to the lower edge of the sombrero in a continuous, dotted pattern. The figure's base is rectangular, and painted white with a red border.

History Of Use

Figures like these, made by local artisans, have commonly been sold in indigenous markets throughout Mexico, especially for Day of the Dead celebrations. The figures are used as domestic decorations and presents for children. In 2019 Shelton noted that both the large Oaxaca market and the Sonora market in Mexico City had far fewer stalls selling this type of figure than there had been twenty years earlier. One maker in Oaxaca said domestic demand had declined, and that there were fewer artisans as many of the older makers had died and their children hadn't taken-up the craft. Some of the artisans make skeletal figures encased in glass, to sell to tourists through folk art shops.

Narrative

Purchased directly from the maker in Oaxaca in 2019. Sra. Elipidia Chacon Ruiz told Shelton that her parents had also been potters in Oaxaca. She is in her 80s, and has taught her daughters and their children how to make the figures. She also told him it was the younger members of her family that came up with the idea of making skeletons in cars and racing cars.