Day of the Dead Art Exhibit at SIU Morris Library

Monarch butterflies end their migration in their winter sanctuary in Mexico. Their return coincides with the beginning of the corn harvest. Last year, fewer monarchs made the trip than ever before ... * 25 Artists * A Group of First Graders * A Lay Expert visiting from Mexico * An Anthropologist We are starting a conversation about the ways people recreate a sense of place, rebuild our communities, and recover after traumatic experiences. As loss of habitat, climate change, and indiscriminate use of pesticides grants "permission" for additional ecosystem corruption, how does our perception of what is normal change? How do we stay connected as species vanish and cease to matter? Join us as we honor the traditions of our ancestors from around the world and build a bridge between their dreams for us and ours for the generations still to come. See the bigger picture we share. Participants: Anne Silver, Beth Martell, Cade Bursell, Cathy Daesch, David Bond, Elana Floyd-Kennett, Fran Jaffe, Julie Carman, Julie Murphy, Laurie Blakely, Lisa Barnes, Lisa Lennox, MaryAnn Wildwood, Michele Mekel, Kathy Livingston, Retha Daugherty, Roberto Barrios, Sabra Baker, Sarah Lewison, Sharon Wittke, Sue Spurlock, Tabitha Smith Tripp, Teresa Harris, and Theresa Smith. Artwork from Mrs. Hoak's first-grade class from Century Elementary School in Ullin, Illinois will focus on the importance of planting milkweed, the butterflies' food. Any time the library is open, visitors are welcome to drop in and view it. Roberto Barrios, Associate Professor of Anthropology, will speak at the reception. His fieldwork involves communities in Honduras and New Orleans hit by hurricanes. He studies how people successfully maneuver complex life-changing events to recreate a sense of place, rebuild their community, and recover after traumatic experiences. The photographs he took while on sabbatical last year showing day of the dead altars in Tocatlan, Mexico will be part of the exhibit. His graduate assistant, Asunción Avendaño Garcia, is visiting from the Department of Geography at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She is a lay expert on the Day of the Dead. Artists may draw on a wide variety of traditions including Samhain and Halloween. This event is sponsored by Morris Library and the Buckminster Fuller Future Organization. The public is welcome to attend.