Green Tara Day of the Dead
Mixed media on wood
20″ X 16″
2020

Here I am mix-mashing a Buddhist Green Tara with Mexican Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) imagery. Calaveros and Catrinas (including myself in the bottom corner) cavort as Green Tara sits in lotus pose with one leg pointed down — ready to come help those in need.

In pre-Columbian times, the images of skulls and skeletons representing rebirth were often shown in paintings and pottery. During the 20th century, Posada, a Mexican political caricaturist, became famous for making Calaveras as vain skeletons dressed in the clothing of the wealthy. The most famous one was a Catrina wearing a feathery hat, just as she does at the top center of this piece.

Tara is a word originating from Sanskrit, meaning star, and it symbolizes the light of the soul. The Green Tara is the goddess of loving kindness and compassion, the Buddha in female form! She embodies the healing energy of release from fear and ignorance.