42nd Annual Dia de los Muertos Exhibition: ALAS DE LOS MUERTOS, THE RETURN OF THE SOULS

42nd Annual Dia de los Muertos Exhibition: ALAS DE LOS MUERTOS, THE RETURN OF THE SOULS Curated by: Sonia Romero Featured artists: Pavel Acevedo Agustin Artequihua-Ortiz Lorraine Bubar Ruben Esparza Ricardo Estrada Judithe Hernandez Oscar Magallanes Jackie Boy Mora Ezequiel Peña Wayne Perry Frank Romero Nancy Romero Sonia Romero Altars by Dolores Guerrero Cruz, Richard Montoya, and Consuelo Flores Self Help Graphics & Art's iconic Día de los Muertos Commemorative Serigraphs are internationally recognized as important works to the Chicano Art legacy and offer an opportunity for artists to interpret their vision of Día de los Muertos. Experimental printmaking has been at the core of SHG's Professional Printmaking Program and for the first time the studio will produce a 3D Printed edition based on the work of this year's artist and curator, Sonia Romero. ARTIST BIO Sonia Romero is a full time artist living and working out of North East Los Angeles. She has created multiple public arts commissions for the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the Los Angeles Metro and the Community Redevelopment Agency. She included in traveling exhibitions from the Cheech Marin collection and the Harriet and Ricardo Romo collection. Exhibition highlights include her 2011 solo exhibition as the Vincent Price Art Museum, her debut solo show at the Avenue 50 Studio and a printmaking retrospective at Self Help Graphics. She received her formal education from the Rhode Island School of Design, with an emphasis in printmaking. She was an artist in residence at the Avenue 50 Studio from 2007-2014. ARTIST STATEMENT I began researching and creating work about monarch butterflies when I noticed the subject of their migration popping up in the media. Similar to the plight of the bees and the phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder, the entire species of the monarch is threatened by loss of habitat through climate change, pesticides/herbicides and deforestation. The northeastern population of monarch butterflies overwinters en masse in mountainous regions of Michoacan, Mexico. They return each year during the celebration of Dia de los Muertos, where they are said to be the souls of the dead returning to earth. The population of monarchs which have returned in recent years has hugely declined. The plight of their species makes me ponder the interconnectedness of our species and all species of the planet. Therefore, I titled this year's celebration of Day of the Dead "Alas de los Muertos, the Return of the Souls".