Altar - Lucas Beidler

Remembering the victims of Covid-19 by Lucas Beidler. My altar honors the victims of Covid-19, particularly black and brown people of communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic. The altar is divided into 3 levels: Top (heaven or spiritual), middle (earthly), and bottom (underworld). On the bottom level, there are 6 of the victim's faces and their names and ages are shown on the computer screen. The three red flowers are there to honor their lives. On the middle level, there is my version of pan de muerto, which is 3 pieces of banana bread in the form of muffins—I thought the spirits of the dead traveling among the living would enjoy a sweet treat. There is also a glass of water, a plant, and a Bernie Sanders sign. The glass of water is there to quench the thirst of the spirits and the plant is to connect them to life and earth. The Bernie Sanders sign is part of the activist component of my altar—it represents an activist force against neoliberalism, wealth and opportunity inequality, anti-immigrant policies and more that cause many of the problems that minorities in the U.S. face. Bernie Sanders is an example of a politician who is actually on the side of Chicana feminists, someone fighting for them. On the top level, there is a candle, incense, and flowers. The candle and incense are both spiritual, and all three items represent heaven or a higher place where the victim's spirits are now. The items representing the four elements are: the glass of water and the plant for water, the pan de muerto and flowers for earth, the candle for fire, and the incense for air/wind. You can see the air move the smoke from the incense around. Additional symbolic elements are the zig-zag pattern from bottom to top to represent the crooked path to justice and the computer to represent Chicanxfuturism and the use of social media and technology by Chicana artists and activists.