Get a head start on Día de los Muertos with free churros, Mexican hot chocolate, and mariachi music! Join us on Friday, October 30 from 5 to 7 p.m. for the community opening of Cristina Mittermeier: A Greater Wisdom, with exhibition wall text presented in both Spanish and English.

For thirty years, Mexican photographer, author, and activist Cristina “Mitty” Mittermeier has traveled the globe documenting the beauty of our planet, its wild inhabitants, and the cultures of the people who call it home. Organized by the National Geographic Society and Gallerie d’Italia, Intesa Sanpaolo’s museums, A Greater Wisdom is making its North American debut here in Jackson Hole. Mittermeier’s compositions reveal the threads connecting humankind to the broader web of life, inviting each of us to find our own state of “enough.” It affirms our intrinsic worth and aligns our decisions with the natural cycles of the living world.

Among the works on view is a portrait of La Catrina, the elegant, finely dressed skeleton who has become one of the most recognizable symbols of Día de Muertos. Inspired by Diego Rivera’s rendition of José Guadalupe Posada’s La Calavera Catrina, the portrait was photographed in Oaxaca, where Día de Muertos traditions run deep. Those traditions honor death not as an end, but as a continuous thread connecting past and present, echoing the interconnectedness at the heart of this exhibition. It’s a fitting way to begin the season, and a reminder that the great wisdom of the past can help guide the choices we make for our planet’s future.