Mujeres de Maiz (1998-2019)
How I came to Mujeres de Maíz was no accident. After my adventures attending UCLA, ELAC MEChA and Self Help Graphics & Art, I decided to pursue an art career. Then in 1994, I was fortunate to obtain a scholarship to attend Art Center College of Design in Pasadena where I earned my BFA in Illustration with an emphasis in children’s book publishing. During this time I had been trained very well in the classical arts. I learned to draw and paint and discovered a passion for mixed media, printmaking and graphic design.
As a young Chicana at ACCD, my cultural experience in higher education felt cold, lonely, invisible and even violent in some ways. I was very shy with my instructors and struggled to keep up with my classes. Throughout my academic career, few had anything informed to say about my practice and I became the authority over my own Xicanx aesthetic and later in the graduate programs I entered as well. However, I was able to receive much appreciated mentorship and guidance from artists and educators like professora Yreina D. Cervantez from CSUN, and Linda Vallejo who both have history with Self Help Graphics and Art.
The painting, above, now known as “Mujer Maiz,” illustrated a dream I had about “la Raza Cosmica,” and the rebirth of the feminine. A skeletal woman rests stretched out with her back to us while four ripe corn rise from her decomposing body. Each corn is like the four gods of maíz, colored blue, white, yellow and red, representing the four ancestors of the human race, and the four directions. The process of painting this work was soothing and although I did not know it then, I knew that the painting was a symbol for what was to come. After graduation, I had become lost and extremely depressed with very low self-esteem. I needed to find purpose for my life, something bigger than myself.
Mujeres de Maiz was a newly formed collective of women, POC artists in East Los Angeles. They were very excited about my artwork. They encouraged and validated my cultural expressions and symbols and introduced me to other amazing POC women artists. In the Spring of 1998, I witnessed my first Mujeres de Maiz performance at the CSO on First Street in East Los Angeles. My experience felt visceral and overwhelmed me. It was as if my soul was laid bare and I was seen for the first time for who I was. Seeing women work together creatively and in sisterhood had a profound impact on me. So, I offered to help design the third community arts zine publication, created a logo for the group and thus, began my journey with them.
Creating a logo became a necessary task as a result of my formal art training. A sort of branding that would collectively represent who we are. So I designed a woman with flowery speech and the infinite spiral of creation in her belly and the many ways women can bring life and beauty to each other and to the world. The belly holds our story, our emotions, intuitions, and moves with our instincts: our ‘gut.’
Designing a zine appealed to me since I love books. I like to hold them, smell them. The physical presence of a book is like holding an entire world. The digital age was fairly new and designing my first zine was challenging since I had little experience. We wound up cutting and pasting found images and including the few local, current, original works we had obtained from artists like Rachel Thorson; and it was only a few glorious pages. The process was so time consuming it took over a week just sitting in front of the computer, non-stop, all day and sometimes all night. Trying to get each page just right. The time that was spent collaborating, gathering and designing the first zines made me feel whole again. It felt like I was sharing my own story through the stories of others. It was important that women of color, who have historically been ignored, be respected, heard and published.
For 20 years I worked behind the scenes mostly through publications and it has come from deep within my heart to publish these books for you because Mujeres de Maíz saved my life. Since then I am so blessed to have their love and support. I invite other mujeres to network and support each other, to collaborate, study, make art, stay informed, and continually work to become masters of their life, to take risks in the creative process, to be open to traditions and new concepts.
I think all women carry many teachings and we must unite and share our life lessons to remind us that we are not alone; that we are more alike and magnificently unique. Openly sharing our joys, scars, resources, and experiences can heal and take us closer to our personal power; it can take us to love and justice. May you find your path for good purpose.
Con mucho amor y paz,
Margaret ‘Quica’ Alarcón
