Identity Blinging: Muejeres de Maíz Flor Y Canto
Issue No. 11, 2013
ISSN: 1947-4210
Los Angeles, CA
An anthology of art, poetry and prose written on issues of concern by women of color.
Mujeres de Maíz is a collective for, by and of the people, specifically urban wombyn of color. The group started among the writings of empowering mentors; where the penetrating power of Xicanisma and important historical lessons and stories were shared through women’s creations and thereby planted in the hearts, minds, and spirits of las Mujeres de Maíz. The influence, inspiration, and empowerment of these women’s art, has had a profound impact on various generations and together las Mujeres de Maíz, have created a much needed space for their own generation, style, and vidas.
After 15 years, Mujeres de Maíz, a wombyn of color creative art collective based on activism and personal, artistic, and spiritual growth, continues as a groundbreaking force within underground Los Angeles Chicana, artist, and activist circles. The group has pushed across many borders to create sacred spaces for women to share their thoughts, experiences, prayers and politics through the arts and to push theory into flesh. Mujeres de Maíz is where emerging and established women of color artists share the same stage and page, a group where intergenerational, intercultural and interdisciplinary work is applauded and encouraged, and where a myriad of wombyn of color, from different cultures, generation, religions and traditions come together to honor themselves and all wombyn. It is a place that for many years was the only of its kind, having been the home and started of many of Los Angeles’ wombyn performing ARTivists, and where many have shared their creations for the first time and later to publish and tour their work.
In honor of International Womyn’s Day (March 8th), Mujeres de Maíz creates an annual live art show and publication in solidarity with thousands of women across the world, who march for women’s rights and important issues. In L.A., the women of this open collective march, pray, organize, and share their gifts, their sacred words, music, and art…themselves. In these turbulent and changing times, Mujeres de Maíz welcomes you to delve into their amazing creations within a generation’s sacred creative codex and experience, in the words of the Zapatistas, “a world where many worlds fit.”
About Linda Vallejo:
Linda Vallejo‘s solo exhibitions of Vallejo’s newest work Make ‘Em All Mexican have been presented by Arte Americas in collaboration with the Fresno Art Museum and at California State University at San Bernardino’s Fullerton Museum. She is represented by the George Lawson Gallery in Culver City and San Francisco, CA. Her work is in the permanent collections of The National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, Illinois, Carmegie Art Museum in Oxnard, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art at the University of California at Santa Barbara (CEMA), UCLA’s California Multicultural and Ethnic Archives, and Stanford University’s Chicana Art Multimedia Database.
Artists included: Erika G. Abad, Margaret ‘Quica’ Alarcón, Gina Aparicio, Iris De Anda, Isabel Avila, Melanie Cervantes, Crystal Galindo, Marisa Urrutia Gedney, Pola Lopez, Iuri Morales Lara, Michelle L. Lopez, Diea May Jacqui Martinez, Maribel Martínez, Marilynn Montano, Felicia Montes, Mujeres en Resistencia, Judith F. Romero, Lilia ‘Liliflor’ Ramirez, Elizabeth Retolaza, Elvia Susana Rubalcava, Natalina Ross, Alejandra Sanchez, Araceli Silva, Reina Alejandra Prado Saldivar, Rocio Ponce aka “La Bestia,” Sandra Hunter, Linda Vallejo, Patricia Valladolid, Jenni Vinson, Zuleica Zepeda
Mujeres de Maiz website View excerpt