El Gato Muerto

This project started out as an exploration into the world of latex masks with my collaborator, Jason Torres. Inspired by professional prosthetic-making techniques, we created busts of our faces and sculpted our 'death masks' on top of them. Then, we cast a latex mold of our masks and decorated them with inspiration from Dia De Los Muertos and Salvador Dali. For the complete process click here.

Once the masks were complete, we struggled with ways to present them - until one of my good friends, Nicole Bueno, approached us with a sad story. She was house sitting for a friend, and was also in charge of taking care of an old diabetic cat named Scout. Long story short, Scout did not make it through his owner's vacation, and Nicole was quite distraught. As she told us the story, the idea was formed to perhaps give him a funeral and pay homage to Scout.

With plenty of imagery pulled from the Day of the Dead celebration, a proper death ritual for Scout was planned. Authentic ceremonial candles were purchased from Fiesta, along with some tuna, Scout's favorite food.

Nicole's story was recorded using the built in mic on a macbook pro. The resulting file was dropped into Ableton Live and then filters and various effects were added to the story vocals for atmosphere. The background music is "Miss You" (Trentemoller Remix) by Trentemoller.