EXHIBIT AT CONNER MUSEUM DOCUMENTS DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION

(KINGSVILLE, 06/28/96)—In October 1994, Texas A&M University-Kingsville history professor Ward Albro and sociology professor Rosario Torres-Raines traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico to record interviews with locals who had special knowledge or involvement in the spiritual celebration known as Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). They teamed up with photography professor Denis Defibaugh, of the Rochester Institute of Technology, capturing the season's activities at homes, markets and cemeteries throughout Oaxaca.

The interpretive exhibit of 58 large-format, panoramic, color and black-and-white photographs, entitled Family Ties Do Not Die: El Día de los Muertos in Oaxaca, is the result of their collaborative documentation. Thirty-seven photos are currently on exhibit through August 10 in the west gallery of the John E. Conner Museum on the A&M-Kingsville campus.

The photos and accompanying text vividly document one of the world's most colorful and tradition-steeped celebrations which is similar to the Halloween celebration in the United States, but, is less commercial and more closely tied to family and spiritual life. It coincides with the Catholic tradition of All Souls Day, a time when families remember relatives who have died.

"Day of the Dead is a happy time, not a sad time," said Albro, an authority on native Mexican culture, "because the people are experiencing relations with their loved ones, in a sense. Many believe that the souls of past relatives return to enjoy the food that's been prepared."

The exhibit was displayed from November 1995 through May 1996 in San Antonio and in the Fort Worth Public Library during October 1995. It opened in the Center for Hispanic Arts in Corpus Christi last September.

The project and exhibit is the product of funding by the Texas Committee for the Humanities, Agfa Film, H.P. Marketing Corp./Rollei, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and A&M-Kingsville.

The Conner Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays. For more information phone (512) 593-2828.

-TAMUK-
-Mary Daniel