Monica Loren Sanchez Grunwald

Unmasked Plate Ofrenda

The Unmasked Plate Ofrenda series centralizes the idea of the photograph. Photographs are the main way for me to connect with my family, my culture and my ancestry, and they also are the main element for honouring the departed when celebrating Dia de los Muertos. The belief is if the photo of the departed is not on an altar their soul will be forgotten and therefor won’t be able to connect with the land of the living. The portraits of the innocent children who have been fatal victims of state violence are articulated on plates, which, symbolically are used to hold food offerings for the dead. These portraits are then framed with barbwire which echoes the violent barriers of “the Wall,” the U.S-Mexico border. Once I rendered these portraits, I gradually scraped away at the paintings, representing the loss of identity, and the fragmentation of personhood that is imposed on these children. It acts to mimic their disappearance and fleeting existence.Roses are assembled around the portraits to embody a spirit, while the projected installation uses vanishing death masks, an ancient Mexican tradition, to symbolize their fleeting existence. By painting these forgotten souls, I am recontextualizing colonial interventions, as portraiture’s history originates with hierarchal narratives. By creating this memorial shrine, I am giving importance to those who are deemed unimportant by societal hierarchies. In several cases, children who have died under the state are referred to as “unnamed children,” revealing a long-standing pattern of dehumanization; these children, as Brene Brown explains, are viewed as “subhuman children from subhuman people,” and therefore, their deaths are viewed as statistics undeserving of empathy. Further, the lack of state accountability for these deaths reaffirms that they are seen as disposable. In keeping something “un-named,” the state dissolves its responsibility, and does not evoke human connection. To add, the state denies these families the culturally appropriate manner to grieve, which is the essence of this series. I am creating a monument for these families because it re-humanizes them.