Monday 4/20 Draft Questions: Grace Grotz

Death is processed differently by individuals and cultures. In the article, “Master Altar-Maker Ofelia Esparza”, Esparza notes “It’s not my job to say you can’t do this or you can’t do that. What I want to pass on is the tradition of remembering our loved ones” (9). What are ways (other than altars/Día de Muertos) cultures and communities remember loved ones they have lost? 

In the NEA’s tribute video to Ofelia Esparza, Esparza explains how she learned to make altars from her mother and now her nine children have become involved in the altar-making tradition (0:20). How does Esparza’s journey of passing on family tradition relate to the symbolic meaning of the altars themselves?

In Rhetoric of the Object, Jennifer Gonzalez describes words alone as limiting, stating how, “presenting  the word-play of language, the literate text thus had a "repressive" effect upon space and gesture” (84). Do you agree that describing an object or idea in words alone is ineffective? Does spacial/physical art always present ideas better than text?