Catrina Flor Cadaver

Colored Pencils and Acrylics on Black Paper

I was born and raised in Mexico City for half of my life where I celebrated el Día de Muertos each November. Many people think that Catrinas are little more than a type of cultural costume, but they are not! They are a representation of the oblivious aristocracy and wealthy Europeans who would prize their expensive outfits and luxurious lifestyles without the understanding that they would take none of it to their grave. In other words, Catrinas represent a critique of a materialistic and vain society. My artwork is a continuation of this tradition. My own Catrina wears a dress depicting a carnivorous plant, representing the rapacious and greedy upper class, who now in death also wears a shawl made of the same maggots that are responsible for finishing the decomposition of her body.