This family/all ages workshop, co-led by Dr Jane Lavery and British-Mexican-American artist Emily Wood Ramirez Ahmed, focuses on the Mexican Day of the Dead to raise awareness of this globally practiced cultural phenomenon.

The workshop focuses on the practice's central symbol, the Monarch butterfly. Papalotl is the Nahuatl word for butterfly and the Mexican Day of the Dead occurs at the same time of year as the Monarch migration. Indigenous beliefs say that butterflies represent the soul of ancestors returning to the earth. Day of the Dead coincides with the butterfly migration swarming across North America to their overwintering sites on the West Coast of California and Oyamel forest in Central Mexico. This migration is now at risk as data shows a 90% decline over the last 20 years due to climate change, habitat loss and deforestation. Many conservation groups are working to protect the species from extinction. The butterfly then symbolises renewal.

You will create a beautiful butterfly whilst discussing and learning about the Monarch, the Day of the Dead and the impact of Covid-19 on this practice; and to rethink, often in humorous and joyous ways, the ways we perceive death generally, by examining questions of loss, bereavement, and hope.