OFRENDA - Amor y Memoria: Arts & Conversations Day

OFRENDA 2026 - Amor y Memoria 30 October – 3 November 2026 Fish Lane Arts Precinct, QPAC’s Melbourne Street Green, and Merivale Studios 🏵OFRENDA 2026 Amor y Memoria is a transformative Mexican arts and cultural event celebrating Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead). Join in celebration of rich and diverse Mexican cultures, where ancestral memory and contemporary artistic practices are woven together. Visual art, storytelling, music, performance, workshops, and traditional cuisine unite around an ‘ofrenda’ (altar/offering) at the centre of festivities. During Día de Muertos, ofrendas are created to honour, remember, and welcome home the souls of our loved ones who have departed, keeping their memory alive through photographs, flowers, food, and personal offerings. 🏵OFRENDA 2026’s theme, ‘Amor y Memoria’ (Love and Memory), invites us into a space between two worlds, a liminal place where we can reflect on how love and memory sustain our connection with those who have departed and keep our shared traditions alive. 🏵OFRENDA provides an opportunity for Brisbane/Meanjin’s Mexican diaspora to connect around tradition and for the wider community to appreciate Día de Muertos as a vibrant, living celebration of contemporary cultural identity rooted in Indigenous cultures. SUNDAY 1 NOVEMBER Location: Merivale Studios-29 Merivale St, South Brisbane 10:00 AM- 4:00 PM - ALL DAY OPEN Visual Art Exhibition • Community Participation • Workshops Time Venue Program 10:00 am - 11:00 am Merivale Studios Conversation: The Meaning of the Ofrenda 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Merivale Studios Calaveritas Literarias - poetic compositions 12:30 pm - 1:20 pm Merivale Studios Conversation: Love and Memory - Mexican creative practice 1:40 pm - 2:20 pm Merivale Studios Conversation: First Nations Collaboration Registratons are required for all workshops and talks due to limited capacity. Entry by donation, proceeds go towards running the workshops. Reccomended donation is $5-$15. Entry into Merivale Studios to view the exhibiton is FREE. PANNEL DISCUSSIONS Joins us for pannel discussions with artists and collaborators as we share stories aroun three themes. Details to be confirmed. Conversation: The Meaning of the Ofrenda Conversation: Love and Memory - Mexican creative practice Conversation: First Nations Collaboration WORKSHOP Calaveritas Literarias - poetic compositions (Adults) Explore the history of the Catrina and the social satire of its creator. Spark your wit and revive this Mexican tradition by writing your own clever and ironic death-rhymes. Poster artwork by @kattattak_studio Font: Feroniapi Wiegel & Julienne Richard Presented by @contempoartscollective and @bemacpresents, in collaboration with the Meanjin Mexican Community. Supported by @explorefishlane @atqpac @merivalestudios OFRENDA takes place on Yuggera and Turrbul Country. BEMAC is a subsidiary of @ssi_news and supported by @artsqueensland As visitors, migrants, and immigrants, we acknowledge that this event takes place on unceded Aboriginal lands, and pay our respects to the custodians of Country as the first artists of these lands. Always was, always will be.