Week 5: Ofelia Esparza’s Presentation

During Ofelia Esparza’s presentation she discussed her altars and how she began to create her art. I thought it was very interesting that she was born and raised in Los Angeles and still lives here because she is a true Los Angelino. In fact, in her altar, el Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles (2018), she actually dedicated it to Los Angeles; her hometown. She made the San Gabriel Mountains, the mountains that surround Los Angeles, look like an angel, most likely because Los Angeles translates to the Angels in English so she made the mountains actually be angels that watch over her city. It is a beautiful concept to me because in her art she expresses that she wants her beloved city to be protected and because it is an altar it fits the theme since it is an offering. 

In her presentation, it fascinated me that she only barely started to really express her art later in her life.  She told us it began when she was a child and her mother would make altars for Dia De Los Muertos, and her mother would add whatever she like or thought was beautiful. In a sense, creating altars like this is almost like a mosaic where there are a bunch of pieces that apart are just little small things but when you zoom out and look at what has been created, it comes together and creates something beautiful. Although my family personally does not celebrate Dia De Los Muertos, my mother always makes an altar for Christmas for to present the nativity scene and when Esparza’s talked about how her mother would let her add her toys to the altar it reminded me of when my mom would let me try and decorate the altar growing up.