On November 1, 2014 our 2nd Annual Dia de Los Vivos event rocked the Belmont Artspace and the streets of Los Angeles. As more than 300 spectators joined us along with the Bob Baker marionette Theater to celebrate life and the lives of those loved ones we have lost. It was definitely a block festival filled with vivid colors and festive traditional Dia de Los Muertos art theme throughout. Our celebration consisted of live Graffiti Art which were the highlight of our day with legendary Graffiti Artists such as Pryer, Aloy, Evol, Pesky, Petal, Cre8, Vox, Rebornz and special guest Black Light King. It would not have been possible without the sponsorhip and support from Ironlak for these legendary Graffiti Artists to create masterpieces on our walls! We also had an amazing exhibit with art work from Liliflor, Cache, Zender, WizRok, Sandro, El Kawalk, Ion, Savv, Zeal and Wukang 82. Delicious food vendors as well as great Art and merchandise vendors such as Lupita F%@ Cancer, R & A Designs, Bus Mobbers, OG Huskey Radio, Luna Luz Designs as well as Blossm’s Face painting. It was definitely a family affair as well all joined together with the most sincere love and pride for our culture and shape fond new memories for the public at Dia De Los Vivos.
We also had a very special part in our day; the Bob Baker marionette Theater performed a great show for our spectators! Both children and adults enjoyed it so much. I have never smiled so much in an event as it was filled with warmth and smiles from the children. Our focus was mainly towards provide a family oriented environment which can speak for itself as we filled the event with various activities for families to partake in, such as the mural project for the children in association with .We also had live performer and Hip Hop artists setting the ambient for all of us. For many people who are not familiar with out culture of Celebration of the Dead, it might appear a bit shocking to believe that we are celebrating death but the reality is the complete opposite we are actually celebrating life in our own cultural and creative way!
Although the event did start off pretty rough and dramatic, as Mother Nature decided to soak the city the night before leaving high chances of rain for our event date! It was still raining on Saturday morning, I called our committed and asked if we were canceling the show due to the weather circumstances. It would have been a disaster for our Live Graffiti Artists to paint on damp walls and rain, so we all waited for a few hours and praise God the skies cleared and the sun was shinning. Lets get this show on the road. The entire committee from Praise Chapel worked so hard to make this event a success, from the venue set up, decorations and performers as well as helping the vendors and food vendors set up in the most convenient way. Now my biggest challenge was to make sure all the Graffiti Artists were accommodated and most importantly had the perfect wall space to paint due to the weather circumstance but they were all humble and rocked it out anyways. By noon, we had legendary Evol, Pryer and Aloy sketching and planning a Memorial Tribute to our dear friend Trigz. The Seventh Letter members came to pay their respects and hung out with the guys as they painted in their own way their tribute to our lost crew member, father and friend.
As the show progressed Pesky set up a booth along with Petal, Drew and Guillermo from Alternative Source, an actual student of mine from the Art Institute. As well as OG Chaka set up his art for many to admire. I must say although I had to run around the entire time just to make sure everything was going smoothly, the public looked very happy and seemed to be enjoying themselves. We all truly enjoyed singing along with the performers songs like “La Llorona y Sabor A Mi”. Aside to the cold weather and chances of rain we all came together to enjoy a time of art, culture and music on this day. The feedback on our Dia De Los Vivos has been great and it has introduced me to a new circle of people, artists and supporters who are more interested on sharing family events with their neighborhood. I enjoyed this event so much and so did my Lil Frida and family!
I would like to thank all of you that took the risk on coming down and being a part of a great family event. I could not have done it without the unconditional support from my Graffiti Family, community and the Belmont Artspace. A big shout out to all the vendors, performers and exhibiting artists that made this event a success!
Please enjoy the gallery of pictures from Dia De Los Vivos!
With Much Love And Respect
Monica Smiles Tobon
TRIGZ FOREVER!!!! THIS ONE WAS FOR YOU!
mstobon.com 