The Wexner Center for the Arts will be hosting a Día de los Muertos event at the Wex on Friday. Credit: Lantern File Photo
The Department of Spanish and Portuguese has partnered up with the Latinx Studies Program and the Wexner Center to celebrate the Day of the Dead on Friday.
The event will be from 4 to 7 p.m. and is hosted at the Wexner Center for the Arts.
Día de los Muertos is a holiday that celebrates loved ones who have passed away. This year, the event will focus deeply on animals and pets, Paloma Martinez-Cruz, chair of the Spanish and Portuguese outreach committee and a professor of Latinx Cultural Studies, said.
“They always soothe us. They always comfort us,” Martinez-Cruz said.
The event will begin at the lower lobby of the Wex with craft tables and a fall exhibition in the galleries. Guests of all ages can participate in the Brutus Calavera coloring contest to earn prizes, Martinez-Cruz said.
At around 4:15 p.m., Author Paloma Angelina Lopez will read her debut children’s book, “Popo the Xolo”, about the Mexican-tradition of a Xolo dog guiding those who have passed, at the performance space of the Wex, Martinez-Cruz said.
“I found out about her launch in the summer,” Martinez-Cruz said. “I raised it as a way to continue our tradition of featuring a new book release that pairs thematically with what we celebrate on Day of the Dead.”
There will also be a “Popo the Xolo” book signing at 6 p.m. in the lower lobby, Martinez-Cruz said.
After the book reading, Ohio State students will perform a Folklórico dance piece choreographed by Alfonso Cervera, an assistant professor in the Department of Dance, Martinez-Cruz said.
Cervera said that the dance style originates from Afro Veracruz, a subculture of African-descended people in Latin America.
“I’m trying to bring a little bit more awareness to the Afro Mexican side that we don’t normally talk about in the history of Mexico,” Cervera said.
Cervera said that he hopes the audience will either recognize the dance style or learn something new about Mexican identity through the performance.
Members of the Columbus Taco Reparations Brigade will be there to usher guests, perform music and a live painting while embodying the theme of animals and pets, Martinez-Cruz said.
“It’s gonna be like live art characters,” Martinez-Cruz said. “Think of an amusement park where you see live art characters.”
The event will also have free traditional food and drinks at the lower lobby from 6 to 7 p.m., according to the Wexner Center for the Arts website.
“I hope this gives us a space to acknowledge how our animals, pets, the natural world and the non-human are part of our life too,” Martinez-Cruz said.
For more information about the event, visit the Wexner Center for the Arts website.
