Luis R. Campos-Garcia, papier-mâché skeleton artist

From Mexico City to Sacramento, Luis R. Campos-Garcia, known in the art community as Lurac, is the mixed-media artist behind the 6-foot-tall, multicolored skeleton structures that welcome hundreds of attendees each year to the Souls of the City event. Organized by Sol Collective and the Sacramento History Museum, the Día de los Muertos celebration is the culmination of interactive workshops that range from classes on crafting sugar skulls and print-making to art exhibitions. Campos-Garcia is also the art director and curator of the collective’s gallery and works in varied mediums like acrylic paint, graphic design, photography and drawing. During the weeks leading up to Souls of the City, which takes place after the holiday itself, Campos-Garcia find himself molding, sanding and painting the vibrant, papier-mâché sculptures placed throughout the celebration in Old Sacramento and says that events like this educate the community about the Mexican holiday that honors family members that have passed on.

How do you approach making art?

In my artwork, I am interested in playing with imagination, imaginary worlds, playing with creativity and inviting the viewer to not only being immersed in the process of seeing the artwork, but [also] relating to what they see with what is happening around them.

What’s the process for creating the papier-mâché skeletons?

I started helping with Souls of the City and working with papier-mâché skulls and building some giant skeletons in 2013. It was fun and interesting. One of the big skeletons that sits on a table is around 6 or 7 feet. Sometimes, I make the structure with wire, wood and cardboard. Here at Sol Collective, we have a mold that makes the process faster, so you cover the mold with plastic or aluminum foil and on top of that you put the papier-mâché. It makes the process faster and in a way all the skeletons look more the same. The papier-mâché is mixed with plaster and water which acts like a glue with layers of newspaper. Sometimes, you can also use acrylic paint instead of water to make the mixture thicker and then layer pieces of fabric instead of newspaper.

Is Día de los Muertos becoming more mainstream?

What bothers me is the idea of people who are culture vultures and they don’t realize it a lot of times. But, it’s more like capitalizing on other people’s cultures and only on the things they want to take away from that culture. It’s not understanding that culture and allowing for that culture to flourish and be accepted. They’re just going to take what they like from that culture, especially if it’s going to help to make them money. Unfortunately, in this country, and in many other countries of the world, mainstream culture takes things that they want, but they don’t want to see the people around. For us, as Mexicans, they want us to just be in the fields picking their veggies and fruits, or cleaning their bathrooms, or in the kitchen making the food, or cleaning their homes and taking care of their kids, but they get offended when we’re outside trying to be humans making a living. That’s what bothers me. Not only people taking things from Day of the Dead, but the same happens with Native American cultures with images of professional sports teams just to make money off of people who were persecuted. We have to find ways to heal in a way to compensate for mistakes made from the past.

But Souls of the City and the like help with that?

It helps. This celebration is not the only event in Sacramento that is behind the Day of the Dead celebration. Throughout the month of October there are a series of workshops and talks that tell more about what is from the culture, the ideas and the beliefs that are behind the Day of the Dead celebration. So, little by little, when people attend the Souls of the City event in Old Sacramento, they’re more aware of the cultural significance of this event. It’s not going to happen from one day to the other where you’re going to influence someone to be more culturally aware about a different culture, but little by little you are planting seeds that will eventually grow.

How do you connect with Día de los Muertos?

The Day of the Dead was one of the traditions I remember a lot from Mexico. I remember always at home my grandmas’ having alters for our ancestors, but when I was younger I wasn’t really interested in the cultural part of that. I was more interested in playing outside with my friends. Now, with the distance living here in Sacramento, and not being exposed to that so frequently, it’s got me to the point where I value my culture more and try to learn more about it.