NYC's Flatiron North Plaza Gets a Giant Día de Muertos Altar, "Twenty Petal Flower"

A towering community altar called "Twenty Petal Flower" is on view at Flatiron North Plaza, at 23rd Street and Broadway in Manhattan, for this year's Día de Muertos. It runs October 26 through November 3, and visiting is free, with no ticket required.

The piece was made by Mestiz Studio, founded by architect and designer Daniel Valero in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, together with Brooklyn's Powerhouse Arts. The two workshops built it across two cities before it arrived in Manhattan. The Flatiron NoMad Partnership, the local business improvement district, presents it as part of its fifth annual Día de Muertos celebration.

The title comes from the Nahuatl word cempōhualxōchitl, "twenty petal flower," the name for the marigold. The installation follows the flower from the fields of Michoacán to the people who harvest it and turn it into garlands and offerings. Oversized woven floral forms are arranged on a tiered altar lit with warm, candle-like light. The design draws on the arches, crosses and altars that people build from thousands of blossoms in Mexican cemeteries each year, structures that exist briefly before returning to the earth.

The district held its main celebration on October 28 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the plaza. It featured Calpulli Mexican Dance Company's folkloric performances, live music from the New York collective Son Pecadores, a flower-making workshop with Mano a Mano, booklet-making with the Center for Book Arts, printmaking with Poster House, and La Catrina face painting.

Nearby, at Flatiron South Plaza, a papel picado installation designed by Tanya Aguiñiga Studio also runs through November 3. In Mexican tradition, souls are believed to return home between October 31 and November 2, and altars are laid with offerings and food to welcome them. The installation is an easy free stop for anyone walking through the Flatiron area in the last days of the season.