Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

This essay appeared in the catalogue for the exhibition that explored the symbolic cosmogony of Umbanda and Candomblé altars. The author, the Brazilian anthropologist Maria Lúcia Montes, describes these altars as an elaborate symbolic text to be [...]

This document by Tomás Ybarra-Frausto is concerned with the practice of altar-making as a spiritual and cultural endeavor that blends influences from European, African, and indigenous American sources. Typically characterized as a kind of “folk [...]

In this document, Amalia Mesa-Bains writes about the women’s practice of altar-making, suggesting that while there has been a decline in the performance of and engagement with popular ritual in contemporary life, the creation of altars as both [...]

In this document, Professor Amelia Malagamba discusses the practice of altar making, a traditional form of cultural production from Mexico that has been further developed by Chicano artists living in the United States. Her focus is on articulating a [...]