Ofrenda - Emily Eckey

Migrant Loss by Emily Eckey. With this ofrenda, I hope to honor migrant deaths along the Mexico–U.S. border. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 7,216 people have died crossing the U.S–Mexico border between the years of 1998 and 2017. This altar humanizes these deaths and is a memorial to the lives that have been lost. My altar also provides a narration of the hardships these migrants have faced through the elements of earth, fire, water, and wind in the form of food, candles, a goblet of water, and papel picado. The spirituality of this altar making practice will forever keep the migrants that have been lost in our memory.