Gibran Mena Aguilar, 2023
As descendants of people forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands to the outskirts of sprawling, barren cities during the destructive Green Revolution, we bear witness to the destructive consequences of the global North's imposed technification on our food systems. This led to the unraveling of centuries-old networks of interdependence between diverse plant and animal species, including humans, and the loss of our connection to the spiritual aspects of life.
However, we believe that there is a cure for the disease of disconnection that we suffer from. We aim to heal ourselves and the Earth by rediscovering our ancestral planting methods, preserving and sharing the local knowledge of plants and animals through creative works such as storytelling and musical expression. These narratives will join forces with others that share our political direction, presenting a stark contrast to the dominant narratives of what it means to "produce" food, feed communities, and live a fulfilling life within the dominant metanarrative.
Sembrando Palabra, an investigative aesthetic practice where I plant milpa and I write as an interspecies and intergeneration connection to the land and to the ways of caring for the land our indigenous ancesters left for use to live and make others live in the territories of Mesoamerica.
