Craft Archive Fellow Documents Mexican-American Altars in Chicago's South Side
Research on Mexican-American devotional altars has been published by a 2025 Craft Archive Fellow, concentrating on public altars dedicated to La Virgen de Guadalupe within Chicago's Mexican communities. This initiative is part of a broader effort with the Center for Craft to explore overlooked craft histories, framing craft as artesanía, essential to everyday existence. The hands of altar creators turn feelings of displacement into a sense of home, rich with symbols and ancestral wisdom. For Mexican migrants in the U.S., the act of raising altars is vital for reconstructing their sense of home. Although Chicago's National Museum of Mexican Art has featured altar-making, local altars in neighborhoods often go unnoticed. The author has spent nearly 15 years documenting public altars, revisiting images to emphasize this vibrant craft practice tied to migration and spirituality.
Key facts
- The article is part of a series on underrepresented craft histories by 2025 Craft Archive Fellows, organized with the Center for Craft.
- The research focuses on Mexican-American altars as craftwork, particularly public altars raised to La Virgen de Guadalupe.
- The author has documented public altars for nearly 15 years, often without initially considering the photographs an archive.
- For this project, the author walked through South Chicago and Pilsen, Illinois, to document current altars.
- Chicago's National Museum of Mexican Art has presented an annual Día de Muertos exhibition for four decades.
- Everyday devotional altars on porches, in gardens, storefronts, windows, and streets have received far less institutional attention.
- Craft, or artesanía in Mexico, is described as knowledge embedded in the hands, never separate from work or necessity.
- Altar-raising (levantar un altar) is part of remaking home among Mexican migrants in the United States.
Entities
Artists
- Crystal Vance Guerra
Institutions
- Center for Craft
- National Museum of Mexican Art
- Hyperallergic
Locations
- Chicago
- United States
- South Chicago
- Illinois
- Pilsen
- Mexico
- Mexico City
- El Centro