La Feria News

Dia de los Muertos Exhibit on Display in Harlingen

by Tony Vindell/LFN

RGV photographer Rick Vasquez stands by one of his favorite pictures he has at the Dia de los Muertos exhibit in Harlingen. Photo: Tony Vindell/LFN

Nov. 2 is All Soul’s Day and for many people from San Antonio to the Rio Grande Valley it marks the occasion to pay respect to those who are no longer here.

It’s known as Day of the Dead.

The Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum is having a photograph exhibit showing how people celebrate the festivity.

Longtime shutterbug Rick Vasquez, a Valley native, is the person behind the camera who took the pictures in Matamoros, Mexico and in San Antonio where he now lives.

The photo collection shows people wearing masks and grieving for their loved-ones.

Vasquez said he took the pictures over a long period of time as he started in the early 1980s taking shots of people and things surrounding the Day of the Dead cultural activities.

His exhibit, called Recuerdame Celebrating Life and Death, will be on display until Nov. 11 at the HHM at 2425 Boxwood St. in Harlingen. The exhibit is free of charge but donations to the museum are welcome.

Bidge Weber, of Harlingen, said she has been impressed with Vasquez’s work.

“Taking good pictures is not for everybody,” she said. “It takes a lot of patience and you have to concentrate on the subject.”

On a related issue, Tony Zavaleta, a retired professor of anthropology at Texas Southmost College, will give a presentation on Dia de los Muertos at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30 at the Brownsville Events Center.

His presentation is part of AARP lecture series. Reservations are required. For more information go to: https://aarp.cvent.com

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