Style & Culture

Mexico's Día de Muertos in Photos

Photographer Isa Santorsola captures the cemeteries of Michoacán, Mexico City flower markets, and more.

November 1, 2022

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When Venezuelan photographer Isabella Santorsola found herself in Mexico City in the fall of 2021, while working on a documentary, it was merely a coincidence that her trip overlapped with Day of the Dead festivities. But the beauty of the annual celebration quickly inspired a project that eclipsed the reason she came to Mexico in the first place.

“I was very curious to experience the holiday, so I began to investigate, to ask questions, to read,” says Santorsola. It was learning about the use of marigold flowers, locally known as cempasúchil, that really struck her—the vivid buds are used to attract spirits to the elaborate altars built in memory of loved ones for the holiday. “One day I went with a friend to Mercado Jamaica, where people buy flowers, and took my camera with me—I was so impressed by the beauty of the cempasúchil flowers, that I knew I needed to photograph them.”

What followed was a journey that sent Santorsola in pursuit of the golden blooms in their many stages, from soil to altar. She traveled to the farms that grow cempasúchil, in the Xochimilco floating gardens of Mexico City, and met their farmers. She shot the flowers being loaded and unloaded from trucks in the market, customers walking away with their arms weighed down by boughs. And, of course, Santorsola saw the cempasúchil in their final state, adorning ofrendas (offerings), surrounding tombstones, and filling people's homes on November 1, when Day of the Dead celebrations take hold. The final portion of the project took Santorsola out of the center of Mexico City to towns known for their festive commemorations, like San Andrés Mixquic, and all the way to the neighboring state of Michoacán.

Along the way, Santorsola observed much more than just the flowers, she saw the music, the décor, and the food that marks the celebration. “I think that the most special thing about this festivity is the way they address death—it is not taboo, it is not spoken about with fear nor resentment,” says Santorsola. “They honor the life of their loved ones and it is such a beautiful, moving scene to witness.”

Below, Santorsola shares a selection of the images, with the stories behind them, one year after taking them.

Isa Santorsola
San Andrés Míxquic, Mexico City
I arrived in San Andrés Míxquic wanting to photograph the main cemetery at night with all the families celebrating by the graves. But it didn’t happen like that. The main cemetery was closed because of COVID, and they only offered tours. I was disappointed, it wasn’t the tradition I thought I was going to find. But before I left, I started walking through the streets of Mixquic. That’s when the magic began. A lot of families opened their houses so people could see their altars and offerings. They were celebrating at home, having dinner, and spending time with each other. A lot of people welcomed [me] into their commemoration.
In this particular house the atmosphere was very calm. We sat with a woman and her two children in front of their offering. The offering was meant to be for the woman’s dad. The giant image you see at the top is a portrait of him. One of the children [pictured] had carved a fruit and made a Halloween skull. He wanted to show us how it looked with a candle inside so he approached the offering to light a candle to put in the calaverita. The calaveritas are songs the children sing when they go trick or treating and it's also the name of the little bowl where they keep the candies.
Isa Santorsola
San Andrés Míxquic, Mexico City
The ofrendas are usually made out of wood, consisting of a table full of flowers, candles, photos of the departed, candy skulls, and a lot of food. They all shared some things in common—pan de muerto, tamales, fruits—but each family personalized each offering based on the specific taste of the departed. In this offering the main thing is pan de muerto; literally translated as bread of the dead, it’s a sweet bread prepared during Day of the Dead season.

Isa Santorsola
Chinampas Xochimilco, Mexico City
This is the first cempasúchil field I visited and I was completely blown away. The sun had just risen and the light was so warm and beautiful. I met the owners, an old man and his grandson, that same day, and I told them about my project and asked if I could visit their field. They welcomed me immediately, and introduced me to other workers so I could photograph other cempasúchil fields.
Isa Santorsola
Mercado Jamaica, Mexico City
This picture is from the first day I photographed the cempasúchil flower. In that area of the Jamaica market there were a lot of trucks, full of flowers. The workers would stand on top of the trucks to help carry the flowers out and hand them to the clients. That market is so colorful and there’s a lot of movement—I spent a lot of time photographing this specific guy, trying different angles waiting for the best pose.

Isa Santorsola
Janitzio, Lake Pátzcuaro, Michoacán
Janitzio is an island located in Lake Pátzcuaro. It's kind of a mountain, so to really get to know the town, you need to climb a lot of stairs. The graveyard is half way up the mountain, which is why the view is so amazing from there. You can see part of the graveyard, rooftops of the town, and a little of the lake. Janitzio’s graveyard was the first I visited and I was grateful that we had the opportunity to see it from above. Locals told me that usually there are a lot of tourists, but because of COVID restrictions the year prior not that many people came to the island when we did.
Isa Santorsola
Plaza Vasco de Quiroga, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán
I woke up early, before sunrise because I wanted to see this town without the crowds. I walked around the streets and photographed the opening of local markets, some street vendors and some early bird clients that wanted to buy cempasúchil and pan de muerto. This is a photo I waited for—I spent a lot of time behind her waiting for the perfect moment. Although the picture is very still and peaceful, there was a lot of movement. Lots of cars passed by, other people were walking around. The lady was waiting for someone to pick her up, as she had bought things in the nearby market and couldn't carry it all. At some point she stood still, and boom… before any other car could pass by and ruin the framing, I got the shot. I love that I managed to capture that calmness of the early morning before the rush of daily life started.

Isa Santorsola
Janitzio, Lake Pátzcuaro, Michoacán
Day of the Dead is a celebration, it’s happy. Everything is very colorful. I was interested in the traces of festivity left everywhere. In this particular cemetery there were a lot of children playing around with cempasúchil petals and throwing them around like it was confetti. If you walked around the graves and ~~you~~ looked down, it looked like the leftovers of a party.
Isa Santorsola
Pátzcuaro, Michoacán
During this time of year everything is decorated. Every single door, store, and house. In the photo you can see the Cultural Center of Pátzcuaro. I was passing by that building and had no intention of photographing it, until I saw an old woman walking toward the door. I slowed down and waited to see what she was going to do. She stood still by the door and the scene suddenly changed. It looked idyllic and representative of the festivity. The same photo without the woman wouldn’t have been the same.

Isa Santorsola
Plaza Vasco de Quiroga, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán
This image is a detail of a very big offering—I loved that they used purple corn in it. In Mexico and other Latin American countries there are a lot of types of maize. There are likely some that we don’t even know exist.
Isa Santorsola
Pátzcuaro, Michoacán
The picture was taken in one of the flower markets of Pátzcuaro. This man and his grandson worked there selling flowers. You can actually feel that you, as a spectator, are buying a flower. I also think that man was very photogenic; in fact I spent a lot of time photographing him from every angle. Some of my favorite portraits of the series are of him.

Isa Santorsola
Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán
That girl was helping her parents with this big offering. The portrait in the offering shows four little children who died in a fire a while ago, and the family is still hurting. Despite the sad stories within, Tzintzuntzan Cemetery is festive. There were musicians all around playing. I can still hear the sound of the trumpets.
Isa Santorsola
Tzurumutaro, Michoacán
This cemetery was the last one I visited. I was very focused on doing portraits and documenting the graves, until suddenly I looked up and saw all those colors in the sky. You know that time of day after sunset when the sky turns kind of blue and purple? That day it wasn’t blue, but orange. The colors of sky matched the color of the cempasúchil flower.

Isa Santorsola
San Andrés Míxquic, Mexico City
The family built this huge offering in the entrance of their home so that they could leave the door open all night for people to see it. People take a lot of pride in their altars, often spending a lot of time, money, and effort building them. Usually the whole family works on them, and some cook the dishes while the others do the wooden structure, others buy the flowers, and so on. It only makes sense that they want others to see it.