Narrator, Zia: Hi, my name’s Zia and I’ve loved art ever since I was a little kid. I’m so excited to look at this work with you today. What do you first notice about it?
I think it kind of looks like a bookshelf and if I get really close, I see a lot of pictures of people.
I wonder who they are…
Artist, Agosto Machado: These are people who made a difference in my life with the positivity of what their hopes and dreams were.
Zia: That was Agusto Machado, the artist who made this work. It’s called Shrine (White).
Agosto, can you tell us what the word “shrine” means?
Agosto Machado: Throughout history in so many different cultures, as long as your name or your memory is remembered, you live. And so a shrine can help you celebrate and commemorate all the people in your life that somehow changed you.
Zia: Why did you decide to make this shrine?
Agosto Machado: All the people in the shrine were part of my life, they were my friends, my colleagues. I have made the shrines for them. It doesn't matter how they died or why, they live in memory and in images.
Zia: I’m so sorry you lost your friends. How does that make you feel?
Agosto Machado: People might interpret it as pure sadness or grief. But even if it ended in death, we were friends. We are friends and I can witness the transition with celebration because you’re moving on to the next life.
Zia: Do you have to be an artist to make a shrine?
Agosto Machado: We are all artists and we all have self-expression and feelings. All those posters and other things that are on display—you've been doing art in your bedroom.