LSO celebrates the lives of loved ones lost

OCTOBER 31 OFFERS MORE THAN HALLOWEEN — Hope’s Latino Student Organization celebrates Dia de los Muertos and shares insights into various Latino cultures. (LSO)

The Latino Student Organization (LSO) at Hope College partnered with the Kruizenga Art Museum to present a Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Community Day celebration Saturday. The festivities were showed in the museum alongside the current exhibition “After the Rupture: New Directions in Mexican Art 1960s-1980s.” The collaborative event featured family-friendly Day of the Dead crafts.

The building offered an authentic ofrenda (offering) by the LSO with tours of the crafts. A Spanish-language tour of the bilingual “After the Rupture” exhibition was also led by student guides.

Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a national holiday in Mexico, observed in various ways throughout Latin America. The day celebrates the lives of deceased loved ones and can be a celebration lasting as long as three days, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2.

Ofrendas, the “offerings” created by the LSO, are alters that honor an individual being remembered with items such as candles, flowers, photographs and personal momentos of the deceased. Families honoring the dead believe the gates of heaven are opened at midnight and the spirts of the deceased are allowed to reunite with their families for a short time. Many of the ofrendas are made in the homes of those celebrating.

“After the Rupture” showcases works by Mexican artists who broke away from the Muralist School and explored a wider range of styles and subjects between the 1960s and the 1980s. These artists came to be known as the Rupture Generation and helped Mexican Art evolve in new directions that are still playing out today. The exhibition features a selection of thirty-two paintings, prints and drawings by 15 artists associated with the Rupture Generation. The exhibition will be on display until Sat., Dec. 17.

LSO has been educating and celebrating the success and empowerment of the diverse Latino culture in the Hope and Holland communities for more than four decades. The organization puts on an assortment of enriching events and activities to promote this empowerment and richness of various Latino cultures.

LSO pledges to seek and offer support to other organization that commit to building a coalition of interest to better address the needs of Hope’s community. The organizations encourages all interested persons, regardless of race, nationality, gender or religion to join them in sharing their presence, insights and ideas at all organization meetings and events.

Check out more at lsohopecollege.blogspot.com to see upcoming events or learn more about LSO.