Through a collaboration with the Oakland Museum of California and the Center for Art and Public Life, a team of Community Student Fellows worked with lead artist Rosa De Anda on a Day of the Dead community event. The event was open to the public and a part of the museum's annual Day of the Dead celebrations.

The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is the annual Meso-American celebration dedicated to ancestors and loved ones now gone. For the past 23 years, Bay Area communities declare their love to their dead by building altars, walking candlelit processions, dancing, and expounding poetry, eating their favorite dishes, and listening to their favorite music.

The Fifth Direction, 4 + 1
This Day of the Dead installation was divided into four directions, depicting the fifth direction in the center: our communion with death.

The east side represented the element of air and was dedicated to the souls of children and used the circle as a unifying symbol and the color white. The south side represented fire and honored the souls of youths, dressed in reds, using the triangle as their universal symbol. The west side represented the element of water and was dedicated to the souls of adults, lavished in hues of blue, grounded by the symbol of the square. The north side represented earth and was dedicated to souls of elders and ancestors, represented in majestic purples and adorned by the four-directional cross. At the center was a spiral, depicting the soul of community and our own soul, in shades of green.

CSFs: Learning and Making
Lead artist Rosa De Anda hosted a series of workshops with her team of CSFs.

Through the workshops, students were given the opportunity to learn about the tradition of the Day of the Dead and see examples of contemporary altar practices. The group also worked at the museum to envision their site-specific works.

The event culminated in the student created altars on display at the Oakland Museum of California's "Iluminaciones: Days of the Dead Indigenous and Colonial Expressions" event.