October 18, 2017
What started as an artistic act of love a decade and a half ago has grown into a celebration of life on the day of the dead. Almost 15 years ago, Birmingham lost an icon, an artist, a father, and one of the most influential people in the struggle for civil rights. A staff photographer for The Birmingham News, James “Spider” Martin took iconic photographs during the Selma marches and throughout the ‘60s that galvanized our nation and helped fuel the civil rights movement in its earliest days. In November of 2003, following his sudden passing that April, his daughter, artist Tracy Martin, chose to honor him by creating an installation in the style of a Mexican altar called an ofrenda at Bare Hands Gallery. Inspired by the altar, a small group of artists chose to continue the tradition the following November. Like the seed of a marigold blown into a crack in the pavement, the practice took hold. This year, its fifteenth (and a very important year in Mexican tradition), the event will attract several thousand people.