This year's Dia de Muertos exhibition is curated by Reina Prado. The theme is "A Call To Witness: All Is Not Forgotten." This event celebrates Self Help Graphics' 35 year anniversary. The exhibition opens to the public on Sunday, November 2 at 3pm and runs through November 29, close of day. A preview of the exhibition will be held on Saturday, November 1 during the creation of the Community Altar, lead by Ofelia Esparza.

My friend Rigo Maldonado invited me to collaborate with him on an altar installation. We have been friends for over 10 years. We met while he was an undergraduate at UCLA. He is currently pursuing an art education degree at CSULB.

Although we are both saddened about the current Self Help Graphic's financial and building circumstances, we are glad to be collaborating on this exhibition. After multiple working discussions, we decided to make a community altar titled "Nepantla 35." We appreciate that our lives are so much fuller because of our friends, and we recognize that at times our friends are closer to us than any family member. This altar is dedicated to all of our families, including those which we make as we live.

Our altar consists of hanging pine wood box frames. Each box frame holds a photo and some hold personally meaningful objects for that person. The photos are of our own family members and friends as well as family members and friends of our friends. The pine wood boxes remind us of the boxes we live in (our homes), the boxes we travel in (our cars, buses, planes and trains) and the boxes we rest in (our coffins and urns).

Pictured above is one of the box frames with a photo of Antonio Gaspar de Alba. He is UCLA Chicana/o Studies professor Dr. Alicia Gaspar de Alba's father. His box has a deck of cards because he was a blackjack player. Alicia says, "He was lucky until the last day of his short 52 year old life."

Traditions and rituals such as Dia de Muetos teach us that life and death are on a continuous cycle. Our community altar not only remembers and welcomes the spirits of family and friends, but also acknowledges and honors concepts of extended families and our interconnectedness with each other. The lines are blurred between family and friendships, between beginnings and endings, and between life and death.

For more exhibition and event information visit Self Help Graphics at http://www.selfhelpgraphics.com/events/diadelosmuertos.php