antepasados

My mother’s sudden passing in February 2019 threw me into a journey of trying to understand life, death and grief. On this journey, I began researching how other cultures view and handle the passing of loved ones. I found inspiration in the traditions of Dia de los Muertos, and the belief that the migration of monarch butterflies are their loved ones returning to visit them for celebration. Antepasados are 11 large scale monarch butterflies, one for each familial loved one that has passed in my lifetime. They are displayed for the viewers to be surrounded by them. This is a visual representation of the personally comforting belief that my Antepasados, or Ancestors, are still present, in some form or another, surrounding and protecting me.

Photography by Joe Kusumoto; Courtesy of Breckenridge Creative Arts.