Ana Alicia Romero, grew up in Degollado, Jalisco, Mexico, and moved to the United States at the age of 19. She began drawing and painting when she was 6 years old. She took art classes in middle and high school, although she never officially studied art. She paints as a way to relieve stress and address her emotions. “Painting is not a job, it is my hobby. I paint when I feel uncomfortable or sad because I need to put my attention on one thing and focus on the details,” Romero said.
Ana Alicia Romero
Her love of Dia de los Muertos, “It’s my favorite holiday,” Ana Alicia Romero said, led the Decatur artist to create an image of a skeleton dressed in traditional Mexican garb and carrying a basket of flowers on her head. That image is now the face of Decatur’s Dia de los Muertos celebration which brings thousands of festival-goers to downtown Decatur on November 2nd each year. Romero says that creating the image she named “Catrina Rosa” represents a way she can share her Mexican culture with her adopted hometown of Decatur.
