Polvo - Day of the Dead
"Day of the Dead" in Mexico.
While the Rojas´ are busy preparing the party on the cemetery, one branch of the family has already started celebrating. In the midst among them, we find little Benito who recently died in a car accident. Now he belongs to the illustrious circle of the Zapatista "El Negro" and the 170-year-old mask carver José Guadalupe Rojas: the dead of the family.
This is the time of the year when the living family members commemorate their beloved deceased. As long as they keep on doing this, the dead continue to exist – whether in heaven, in the afterlife or in the crypt. Only when there is no one left to remember them, they finally fall to dust.
Inspired by the wall paintings of the Mexican muralists, the story of Benito and his family is told through drawings, giving a (very personal) impression of the rites and traditions on the Day of the Dead. 'Polvo' (Dust) presents a culture in which death is not a taboo but has a place in everyday life, a culture celebrating the dead and making skeletons dance.