Figure Item Number: 3462/48 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Day of the Dead figure. Figure depicts a skeleton in a long, red dress and feathered hat. The dress has a high neck and short sleeves. Glitter is adhered to the sleeves, back, and skirt. A bow is sculpted into the hat, and a pink feather extends upwards from the cap. The skeleton is wearing long black gloves, and a gold pouch rests against its right hip. The skeleton's head is attached to its body via a thin metal rod. The skirt is hollow, and there is a hole in the bottom of the figure.
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.
Purchased from the Mercado de Sonora in Mexico City in 2019.