Dala of the Dead

A very old work I should have put up well over nine weeks ago...but better late than never, I suppose.

This is my cultural mask project from Mixed Media at school. We had to figure out our primary country (or, in my case, two countries out of many) of origin and make a mask based off of that culture's masks and/or art, etc. Since I'm white and Mexican, the Mexican part was easy--like most of the Mexican students, I went with a Day of the Dead theme for part of it. My white side was a little trickier. I found out that apparently I'm primarily Swedish on that side, and the Swedish don't have the rich mask-making history that other cultures like Chinese and Mexican do. But the Dala horse, a little toy horse usually painted bright red with a saddle, reigns and bridle painted on as well, was one of the things I found frequently associated with Sweden, and apparently it's a popular tourist souvenir.

So I combined Dala horse and Day of the Dead, and what did I get? DEATH PONYYYYYYYY!!

Hand-painted, made out of papier mache with a wire frame on the inside, which got bent a little askew in the process.