A Tin Tribute in Chilili

IN THE SMALL East Mountains community of Chilili, a folk art memorial holds sacred space. During the mid-20th century, local artist Horace McAfee created punched-tin tombstones for the San Juan Nepomuceno Cemetery, founded in 1900. Using simple nails and sheets of tin, he lettered names, dates, and reflective musings on mortality and the afterlife. McAfee often adorned the graves with angelic cutouts and custom motifs, designed to keep silent watch over the resting souls. His tinwork practice began when he noticed the wooden cross marking the grave of his father, Harry, had begun to deteriorate. McAfee crafted a striking mixed-media monument to the decorated World War I veteran, who died in 1933, featuring tin panels, found objects like old doorknobs and glass insulators, his dad’s soldier helmet, and even a hand-tinted photo of young Harry in uniform to commemorate his service. Over the decades, McAfee honored dozens of other loved ones with tin tombstones and embellishments, both at the cemetery and in front of San Juan Nepomuceno Catholic Church, about three-quarters of a mile north on NM 337. “A lot of people describe it as art. I don’t call it anything,” the artisan told the Albuquerque Journal in 1984. He died in 2012 at age 92, but his creations remain a compelling expression of memory, creativity, and devotion.