Grand Park - Dia de los Muertos

I wasn't feeling well the last day or so, but luckily by this afternoon, I was feeling up to heading downtown for the free Grand Ave Arts event. Although there were a variety of performances, tours and other things going on, I most wanted to see the Dia de los Muertos displays in Grand Park and the Tim Hecker sound installation at the Broad courtyard. Luckily we were able to do both (as well as some other things), but I'll have to head back some other day to visit the Broad proper since it had a massive line (as did the MOCA, but I've been there a few times before.) There were so many awesome things to see, so I ended up taking a massive number of photos.

Over the years, I feel like I've developed an appreciation for dia de los muertos. I guess it's as life does it's thing and you have more people that are no longer able to be part of new parts of your life, you realize it's nice to be able to acknowledge them in some ways. Displays this year included not only remembrances of bicyclists but also performers, teachers, scientists (such as Jane Goodall's gorillas), family members, victims of violence, artists and pets.

Civic Center Metro station

This was the only part of the Dia de los Muertos art display that I had seen previously. I'm glad it was still up, but I must admit that I'm also really glad it was up last week for CicLAvia... without the other art around and with the CicLAvia event in progress and so many bicyclists biking around safely, I feel like it had a much greater impact and deeper meaning.

The whole "couple in love" display was constructed of various reused materials. Here you can see a variety of plastic bottles, cups, twist ties and plastic utensils

All of these were decorated with various natural items like the pinecones, grains and seed.

the altar in the foreground was for teachers

This altar was for animal friends. There were supplies on the table for people to add their own remembrances....

#downtowndia #GrandAveArts