Days of the Dead.

Last May, an exhibit sponsored by the government of the Mexican state of Sinaloa compelled civic leaders in Culiacan, the capital, to denounce the artist Rosa Maria Robles and demand that the show be closed down. Comments left in the visitors' book weren't as harsh. After wandering aghast through installations that featured bloodied toilets and suspended children's outfits pierced by dried cow tongues or long, knobby rubber penises, viewers wrote things like "It gave me nausea, but it made me think" and "This was very hard; it made me want to cry." A few even thanked Robles for the exhibit.

Sometimes a black boot was displayed in the act of shattering an ostrich ...