What’s at stake:
For the first time, Arte Américas welcomed participants from diverse backgrounds to join the Mexican tradition of honoring loved ones through this year’s Día de los Muertos ofrendas.
The moment one steps inside one of Arte Américas’ corners, you are transported into a Lola’s sala—a grandmother’s living room—filled with wooden furniture, parols, pearl earrings tucked in a jewelry box, handmade souvenirs, and lush tropical greenery. Every detail draws from Filipino culture and memory.
Look a little closer and you’ll find that it’s actually a community ofrenda, or altar, created by local Filipino artist Racquelle Mendiola in collaboration with members of Maarte, a Filipino creative collective that opened earlier this year.
“We wanted people to feel like guests in our space, to feel our hospitality,” said Mendiola. “You’ll be fed, you have a home here, and you’re welcome to rest and sit for a while. I wanted to leave not just blood trails of myself, but my family’s legacy too. There are different versions of us, but we all share the same story.”
The altar features photos of loved ones who have passed and a table topped with a small hut, representing a sari-sari store—a neighborhood shop common across the Philippines. The installation also honors Larry Itliong, the farm labor organizer who, alongside a group of Filipino farmworkers, led the Delano Manongs movement and helped found the United Farm Workers.
Mendiola’s contributions of her ofrenda is one of 11 on display at Arte Américas for this year’s Día de los Muertos theme, “Figuras Monumentales” or “Monumental Figures.” For the first time, the museum invited participants from diverse cultural backgrounds to join in the Mexican tradition honoring loved ones who have passed.
‘Figuras Monumentales’
The exhibition is inspired by a national traveling exhibit called “Alebrijes & Nahuales: Fantastic Animals from Mexico,” on loan to Arte Américas. It features 20-foot-tall illuminated sculptures created by Mexican artists that celebrate the country’s tradition of artesanos who craft brightly colored, fantastical creatures.
A Caralampio sculpture — whose Greek name means ‘to shine in happiness’ — based on the original work by artist Constantino Blas from San Pedro Cajonos, Oaxaca. Gisselle Medina | Fresnoland
Inspired by Oaxaca’s nahuales, or wood-carved hybrids of real animals, and central Mexico’s papier-mâché alebrijes, or brightly colored mythical creatures, the sculptures merge myth with imagination. Arte Américas also has on display the original smaller sculptures by artists from Mexico City and Oaxaca.
Original sculptures by artists from Mexico City and Oaxaca on loan to Arte Américas. Gisselle Medina | Fresnoland
Each fiberglass figure, built around a metallic frame, stands nearly 20 feet tall and weighs about 2,200 pounds with the base. Organizers say the exhibition is both a visual spectacle and a cultural dialogue, offering a vibrant reflection on identity, imagination, and tradition.
Fresno is the exhibition’s fourth stop, after San Francisco, Reno, and San Jose, and the first city to display the sculptures across multiple locations. Five are installed in Arte Américas’ outdoor Plaza Paz, two at Fresno State, and one at Fresno City College.
“I feel like we always outdo ourselves for Día de los Muertos,” said Blanca Santana, Arte Américas’ director of development and marketing. “But we want to make sure that we’re authentic, that we are providing a space where people can come and feel welcomed and learn about different cultures and different people.”
The outdoor installation anchors Arte Américas’ broader Día de los Muertos programming, which includes 11 ofrendas— 10 created by local artists and collectives, and one community altar open for visitors to leave photos, drawings, and notes for loved ones.
“We were already in talks about having an exhibit centered around Alebrijes & Nahuales,” Stephanie Ayon, Arte Américas’ art program manager and curator for “Figuras Monumentales.” “We had thought about ‘Larger Than Life’ because the figures outside are 20 feet tall, and with a little change, it turned into “Monumental Figures.’”
Through an open call launched in July, community members and cultural organizations were invited to propose honorees for their ofrendas. Submissions came from school groups, artists, and collectives across the Central Valley.
Ayon and Santana said this year’s selections honor both celebrated icons and the quiet, enduring legacies of the region’s farmworkers, organizers, cultural caretakers, and matriarchs—those who embody tradition, justice, and love, and whose strength shapes generations.
The final selections, Ayon added, highlight figures who advanced movements for civil rights, labor, feminism, and Indigenous sovereignty, while also standing tall in their everyday lives, and reflect Arte Américas’ intent to involve as many cultural organizations as possible given the overlap between these movements.
“Usually, we focus a lot on Latino artists, so for the first time, to have Día de los Muertos invite more people in to experience this beautiful tradition we have, it’s amazing,” said Ayon. “That’s also been the feedback we’ve been getting from the artists, how meaningful it feels to share this with a broader community.”
To honor the huge impact on our communities
Ayon and her colleague, Corina Correa also co-created one of this year’s ofrendas, initially applying anonymously under the name Raíces Rebeldes, or Rebellious Roots, as a nod to their rebellious spirit. The pair first collaborated last year on an altar honoring queer Chicana poet and theorist Gloria Anzaluda, which sparked their ongoing artistic partnership.
They later embraced the nickname Hijas de Sus Madres, or Daughters of their Mothers, coined by a coworker, in recognition of their strong maternal roots. For this installation, they wanted to pay tribute to Comandanta Ramona, an Indigenous Zapatista leader from Chiapas who helped draft the Women’s Revolutionary Laws.
The installation evokes a Zapatista classroom, with wooden desks, books, and interactive pledges for visitors to uphold the ten laws. Ayon painted a large portrait of Ramona, while Correa designed an illuminated portrait of Tonaztin depicted as a Zapatista encircled by knives to symbolize resistance, autonomy, and protection.
From Gloria Anzaluda as a Zapatista to knives representing Twelve Women of the Twelfth Night of the 1994 Zapatista uprising, the immersive space honors women whose strength shaped history and invites visitors to feel their legacy and liberate themselves.
What they are most proud of, Ayon said, are the small details “that reward people who take a closer look,” calling it “our way of honoring history and the women who came before us.”
Ashley Mireles-Guerros wanted to create a community ofrenda centered on matriarchal care and the womxn who have shaped our lives. Using her bookstore, Judging by the Cover, she invited community members through social media to share memories of their grandmothers’ homes and to participate in building the altar together.
Ashley Mireles-Guerros, co-owner of Judging by the Cover bookstore, wanted to create a community ofrenda centered on matriarchal care. Gisselle Medina | Fresnoland
As she reflected on her own losses over the years, Mireles-Guerros found herself returning to books that explore matriarchal love, legacy, and grief, such as “Tías and Primas” by Esmeralda Santiago.
These works reminded her that the people who raise and nurture us are not always biological families, but can also include chosen family, queer kin, and those who offer quiet gestures of care that grow into powerful sources of strength.
She said that many people who visit her bookstore are also searching for books about grief and found family, and that one of the best parts of participating in the ofrenda has been hearing the stories others share about their loved ones. Some are funny, others tender, but all speak to the ways womxn’s hands, words, and everyday actions root us in resilience and love.
Around a dozen community members contributed to the altar with photos of those who have passed, small furniture pieces like a sewing table, and requested offerings such as María cookies, fruit, candies, and a rocking chair.
Mireles-Guerros added her own offerings, including photos of both of her grandmothers. One of her favorite parts of the ofrenda is a picture of her maternal grandmother drinking a Corona, a joyful reminder of the humor and presence that continue to guide her family and community.
Another ofrenda, created by McLane High School students, honors Central Valley leaders—both well-known figures like Cesar Chavez and heroes in our day to day lives.
“I think it’s really important for us to embrace our culture during these times,” said Ivan Juarez Pablo, a senior and member of the McLane Latino Student Union. “It was a unique experience to get out there in a museum, share our culture with others, and say, ‘This is where we’re from, and this is how we do it here.’”
The ofrenda takes the shape of a tissue-paper tree symbolizing the strength and resilience of monumental figures.
An ofrenda which honors Central Valley leaders created in collabration with several Latino McLane High School groups. Gisselle Medina | Fresnoland
The project was a collaboration between three Fresno Unified student groups—the McLane Latino Student Union, McLane Club Coco, and McLane Dual Language Immersion—led by local artist Andrea Cano Torres.
Six students from the McLane Latino Student Union shared with Fresnoland that the experience helped them come together, collaborate with other groups, and convey one collective message: growth, strength, and the enduring vitality of their culture. The tree, they said, represents carrying those values wherever they go.
“We want students to create their own world and their own future,” said Mariana Gaspar, a senior at McLane High School. “We want them to know not only that they can do it, but that they are supported by us. We can lead them toward those goals and be leaders alongside them.”
For Eden Santos, a local artist, Día de los Muertos is her favorite holiday. When she was selected to create an ofrenda honoring female leaders who fought injustices and sparked change in women’s and civil rights movements, she approached it with intention through an organic do-it-yourself creative process, rather than just store-bought items, and sought to connect with leaders she never personally knew.
Eden Santos, a local artist, built a ceremonial structure called Tzompantli to honor female leaders who fought injustices and sparked change in women’s and civil rights movements. Gisselle Medina | Fresnoland
Santos built a ceremonial structure called Tzompantli, a wooden rack historically used by Mesoamerican civilizations to display human skulls, traditionally those of war captives or sacrificial victims. The backdrop features screen-printed images of halved corn representing flowers, and butterflies symbolizing migrant souls coming together.
Santos wanted the skulls to feel festive, reflecting life’s “happy/sad party,” and adorned them with red, a color associated with femininity in Mesoamerican cultures, and blue/jade to represent the sacred.
Alexandria Ramos-O’Casey and Loretta Ramos have long wanted to create an archival project honoring their friend Ralph Gant, a Fresno City College communications professor and former Black Panther, who passed away nearly 12 years ago.
Loretta Ramos and Alexandria Ramos-O’Casey with their ofrenda for Ralph Gant, a Fresno City College communications professor and former Black Panther, who passed away nearly 12 years ago this October. Gisselle Medina | Fresnoland
Ramos worked alongside Gant in the communications department and built a close relationship with him over the years, while her daughter, Alexandria, often witnessed their debates from the backseat of their car as a child.
“All of these larger, historical and political concepts get down to the nitty-gritty—what does that mean for us to communicate between one or two of us, within our families, or in small group settings?” said Ramos-O’Casey. “That’s really what a lot of these ofrenda pieces speak to: How we take these large concepts and bring them into smaller discussions.”
Gant’s ofrenda reflects this through featuring dozens of his annotated books, personal artifacts, and symbols of Black power, celebrating a life devoted to learning, teaching, and fighting for justice. Overhead, a collage display of The Rampage headlines, the college’s student newspaper, featuring political headlines that reflect the issues Gant embodied, fought for, and taught every day.
Ramos said Gant’s legacy lives not only in the knowledge he shared but also in the care he showed his students and community, and in the lessons he imparted that continue to shape how they approach their own community work today.
Other Día de los Muertos events around town:
Arte Américas’ “Figuras Monumentales” and the “Alebrijes & Nahuales” exhibitions are on view through Nov. 23, lighting up downtown Fresno, and its college campuses, with a spectacular fusion of Mexican artistry, community memory, and cultural pride.
Día de los Muertos 5K run/walk in Clovis | Oct. 26, 8:40 am | colorful altars, delicious food, and lively music.
Día de los Muertos celebration at Dulce Upfront and Trolley Park | Nov. 1, 12-10pm | community altars, art exhibits and installations, movie and music, inter-faith procession
Arte Américas’ annual Gala Gala | Nov. 1, 5-9 pm | procession, ofrenda display, art-making, vendors, live music, catrinas
Alcoholics Anonymous Día de los Muertos celebration at Hope Lutheran Church| Nov. 1, 8pm | speakers, food and beverages
Día de los Muertos Street Festival in downtown Visalia | Nov. 1, 5 pm | “Celebrate culture, community, and tradition at the Día de Los Muertos Street Festival!”
Día de los Muertos community altar and parish BBQ | Nov. 2 | Community members are invited to submit photos of loved ones to be showcased during the BBQ.
Day of the Dead Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church festival | Nov. 1, 11 am-3 pm | Food, games, face painting and more.
All Saints and All Souls festival | Nov. 2, 9 am-3 pm | St. John’s Cathedral, Singleton Hall | A parish fundraiser where food and drinks will be available for sale. They are encouraging all families to dress as saints. There will also be an altar where church members can submit photos to by Oct. 29.
All Souls and Saints Day procession and mass | Nov. 2, 4 pm | St. Catherine’s Church/Hornitos’ cemetery
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