PATTERNS AND TONES

"Day of the Dead on Olvera Street No. 1" 2015 Last year I observed Dia de los Muertos on Olvera Street, the oldest part of downtown Los Angeles. The home made alters constructed featured framed photographs of loved ones decorated with candles, papel picado and flowers. Offerings of sugar skulls, breaded bones and water where carefully laid in out  to nourish their departed souls . Although they were remembering their dearly departed, the mood of the celebration was anything but somber. The mariachi band in the square's rotunda kept the beat for the dancers who's faces were painted like fanciful calaveras. Traditionally, Mexican and Aztec cultures used to wear skeleton masks. The more modern approach is now see in the painted faces. I was fortunate enough to befriend a family that were elegantly dressed for the occasion and they agreed to pose for me in the Avila Adobe, the oldest residence still standing in LA. Its thick 3 foot adobe brick walls, tar sealed ...