Now, until November 6 San Jac Black Box Art Gallery located in the library on Central campus will exhibit “Nichos of the Afterlife”. The exhibit was created and led by Chicana artist Tina Hernandez. This exhibit is in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month and a life-sized representation of a “Nicho”, a Mexican shadow box or craft associated with Dia de Los Muertos and Mexican culture.
“Showcasing Nichos of the Afterlife is a way for everyone to partake in this beautiful tradition and for people to interpret it the way they want to interpret or celebrate it because why be gatekeepers, this is the way to allow people to have that conversation about life and death,” says Tina Hernandez, the artist behind Nichos of the Afterlife.
The exhibit is light and colorful filled with ceramic butterflies, walls covered in yellow, and a photograph of two people in Dia de Los Muertos fashion who seem happy in a kitchen.
“Usually, we associate death with the cemeteries, the color black, and the crying, but it’s so much more than that and this tradition helped me open my eyes to how life and death can be perceived differently,” says Hernandez.
Hernandez sees the beauty within death and invites those to see the exhibit so that they too can embark on a change of perspective.
When creating the life-sized Nicho, the artist used several different ceramic items found from flea markets and Hispanic-owned shops as well as crafting much of the other artwork herself something she has grown accustomed to and enjoyed for years.
“As kids, we would go to the thrift store and garage sale for our clothes and that continued when I got the bug to express myself and I thought that if this is what I am working with then let me express myself using that. And now when I make an exhibit, I think to myself, I need to find these things or make them, and I like that part too, problem solving, it is like a puzzle you must figure out,” says Hernandez.
Hernandez enjoys acquiring materials or items that can be accessible to anyone and finds the process enjoyable. A glimmer of that is reflected within her exhibit as the artwork is well-thought-out, well-made, and well-organized.
Nichos of the Afterlife provides insight into who Hernandez is as a Chicana of the arts and hopes to inspire others to create.
“Shoot if you wanted to create a scene you could too! Other people can continue this project, create your own little scene,” says Hernandez.
For more information on “Nichos of the Afterlife” and Hernandez’s future exhibits visit her website at www.lalibertina.com or @la_libertina on Instagram.
