Postcard from Oaxaca, Mexico: Always welcome more candles on your cake

This woman’s anxious expression on a wall in Oaxaca is a bit frightening to have surfaced close to my birthday. I’ve decided to consider her as successfully defiant.

Some years are harder than others. The image below of the late Vicente Fernandez did not weather well this past year.

But walls in Oaxaca are everchanging canvases for artists, new discoveries encountered with every walk. As prints peel and fade, other layers soon are plastered over them – palimpsests of life.

Above left: 2023. Right: 2024

Unconfined by cemetery boundaries, the calaveras and esquelitos on the walls of Oaxaca appear active participants dancing through everyday life – comforting at times.

No Andaba Muerto, Andaba de Parranda. / He Wasn’t Dead; He Was Partying.”

The abundant symbols found in spirited murals along its streets reflect the character of the city and its people. Biting humor often skewers societal inequities.

Artist collectives, including Subterraneos and Urtarte, print monumental graphics reenergizing the rich printmaking traditions cultivated during the 1940s. Among the artists whose signatures I could decipher on the above works are Atoyarte, Gubitsart, Alonso Chavez and Jesus Kobe.

Street artists from other countries are leaving their marks as well.

Above bottom left: “Chickens with Opinions,” Shen. Bottom right: “From France with Love,” Cesar Malfi.

Often in my street-art posts, you will notice a cultural cross-pollination resulting in Oaxacan-style calaveras popping up on walls throughout Europe. Armed with mezcal and food, those invading skeletons of the New World are conquering the Old. Mexican restaurants and mezcal bars are found everywhere.

As for the other side? I’m not convinced there will be partying there. If so, though, you can be sure I’ll find where the best spot to celebrate is. And, if not, I’ll defiantly boulevardier about as long as possible and request increasingly larger cakes to accommodate those candles.