Bearing Witness: Grieving Palestine Together at Día De Los Muertos Exhibit

Grief is a shadow and art is the communal fire that makes it move. It’s easier to digest the suffering when it’s shared. That’s why we’re recommending the upcoming SOMArts Día De Los Muertos exhibit Bearing Witness, which focuses on Palestine this year.

Below are our interviews with co-curators Rio Yañez and Bridgètt Rex, lightly edited for clarity.

Where did the idea for this Bearing Witness community altar come from?

Rio Yañez: The roots of this show date back to my Father, Rene Yañez, who had been curating this exhibit in some form or another beginning in the 1970’s at Galeria de la Raza. I began working with my Dad on the exhibit in 2006. Over the years we became a Father-Son curatorial team and worked together on the exhibit and others until he passed away in 2018. Since then I have been collaborating with co-curators in creating the exhibit. I am so thrilled to be working with Bridgètt Rex on the show. This is our second time collaborating together on the exhibit.

Bridgètt Rex: With each exhibition, we have the opportunity to make a statement in this case a show of solidarity. Rio invited me to co-curate this exhibition centering on the ongoing genocide in Palestine. We must bear witness to the horrors occuring to the Palestinian people including 17,000+ children who have been martryed.  

Did you have altars or do ofrendas growing up? 

RY: Growing up I would make an altar each year with my mom. We would take a special shopping trip together to buy marigolds, pan muerto, sugar skulls, and other items to use as ofrendas. It was always a very personal cultural practice in our family.

BR: Growing up I did not have ofrendas in my house. Currently I have a year-round altar in my bedroom dedicated to family members, friends and cultural icons that have passed on to the next world. The altar offers a physical space for me to grieve, connect, and contact their spirit through the ofrenda. 

How did you get into curation? 

RY: I began as an apprentice for my father – helping him answer emails, making schedules, and doing physical labor for the exhibit. After he began to trust me and my vision as a curator we began collaborating on the exhibit. It was through him that I came to understand one of the most underappreciated skills of Curator is the ability to talk and relate to artists.

BR: The first thing I can remember curating was my bedroom as a teenager – even using the ceiling as a space to fill with 1940s horror film posters. Shelves were sourced from burned down Victorian mansions my father picked up on his route as a postal worker in Oakland. Photos displayed were of my family or newspaper clippings carefully curated in chronological order on the wall. 

I believe that these moments throughout my life contribute to my current practice as a curator in a more “formal” role today. I am filled with profound gratitude to Rio Yanez for extending an invitation to me to curate for the second consecutive year in a row with SOMArts for the annual Dia De Los Muertos exhibition. 

Because Rio offered me this life-changing opportunity, I use every exhibition to uplift my community in ways that reflect the community’s needs. Learning from Rio is inherently learning from his father René Yañez, and I would like to take this time to give gratitude to the lineage of the SOMArts’ community in the realms of art, culture, and identity. 

This holiday doesn’t fit easily into a category of celebration or mourning. Can you share more about what emotions you expect to invoke?

RY: I really feel that the two currents of the exhibit are urgency and collective care. The genocide and colonial violence happening in Palestine tells a story that is understood by so many current and formerly colonized people around the world. With this exhibit we are hoping to use the Mexican and Mexican-American practice of creating altars to honor lives lost, gather, heal, educate, incite, and witness what is happening in the world.

BR: I believe that when we as curators choose our artists/participants, the next step is to map out the space and tell a visual story using the pieces from the chosen artists. This curatorial practice takes many factors into account such as accessibility, cultural significance, diversity, and physical safety. At the point of the exhibition opening, we leave it to the viewers to come to their reactions, feelings, and thoughts. Overall, my curatorial practice centers on people feeling safe to feel their range of emotions should they arise. The art included is meant to connect us, to begin dialogues and so much more. 

The press release mentions creation as resistance. What aspects of resistance are showing up for you / the artists in the lead-up to the opening of Bearing Witness? 

BR: Choosing this year’s theme was one of our acts of resistance. On a personal level, taking care of myself and taking care of my community through grief workshops and artmaking has also been a form of resistance. 

What was the artist selection like for Bearing Witness?

BR: I was grateful for every single submission. This annual exhibition is unlike any other and every altar submitted brings power, love and importance to their loved ones who have passed on. Reading each submission was emotional in that the subject matter is incredibly tender and the act of creating an altar is part of the healing process for many. 

How to See It

SOMArts’ 25th annual Día de Los Muertos exhibition embodies the spirit of René Yañez, who ensured that each show reflected the current state of the world and honored those lost to profound acts of violence. The opening reception is Friday, October 11th from 6pm to 9pm and there are several performances and events during the month where the community can come together and grieve. The show is on view from October 12th through November 8th at 934 Brannan Street.

There will be an artist market where a handful of the artists from the exhibition will have art for sale. One such artist is Palestinian artist Ren Allathkani @folkloren_  who will be selling prints and the “Passport of Witness”; an anthology of Palestinian Voices. Learn more about this project here.

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