An Obsession With Corn
[Image 1]
This last year, my art practice became preoccupied with a certain Aztec prayer and the subject of that prayer: corn.
The prayer reads:
“It is I, the person. Pay attention, sister seed, who is sustenance. Pay attention, Princess Earth, for now I entrust into your hands my sister, the one who gives us, or the one who is, our sustenance.” [1]
Such a beautiful, slow-living, and gracious meditation on the planting of a remarkably humble yet essential food source.
Observing our current political and religious climate led me to search—both within the multiverse of media and through historical and archaeological records—for answers and understanding.
Sustenance, survival, the grace of trusting a system such as nature to provide that sustenance, and the power dynamics surrounding humanity's attempts to control, own, and distribute what nature produces have become the underlying focus of my research. I wanted to better understand the relationships between food and power structures, food and religiosity or spirituality, and food and familial ties, particularly within a Mesoamerican context.
With a background in anthropology and an Italian heritage, food has always been an important part of my life and an enduring subject of curiosity.
From the seed wars between farmers and agricultural biotechnology companies in the United States [2], to fertilizer regulations [3] and farmer protests in Europe [4], to corporate rewilding projects in the United Kingdom [5], the complexities of modern food systems continue to grow. Alongside these increasingly complex systems, one cannot help but notice the expanding reach of institutions, corporations, and governments seeking to control and influence the many ways human beings obtain sustenance.
From an anthropological standpoint, the relationship between food procurement and cultural development is pivotal. In modernity, these systems have become increasingly complex, even confusing, and now stand at a critical juncture.
With all of this in mind, my research into Mesoamerican food practices, particularly those of the thirteenth through sixteenth centuries, has taken on new meaning.
The simplicity of this Aztec prayer for corn has awakened a new perspective in me. Its gentle and intentional words draw me back not only to humanity's roots and more direct relationships with food, but also to my own desire to distill the complexities of modern life into a more personal practice of gratitude. It reminds me of the simplicity found within the natural cycles of planting and harvest, and of a growing desire for peace as one learns to entrust oneself to the hands of Princess Earth.
[Image 2]
This perspective shift is not a naive one, for it is impossible to avoid the complexities and disappointments of our time, and of the past. Food-getting has been, and will always be, problematic for humans. Famine and other natural disasters, politics, poor planting and consumption practices, water shortages, and so forth will forever be intricately involved in our capacity to acquire sustenance.
The Aztecs themselves were also a living example of this common and ironic human conundrum: alongside the beautiful coexists the terrible. They were, simultaneously, a poetic and bloodthirsty people.[6] Sounds familiar.
Despite having to recognize and face these complications during this art study, my attention has gradually shifted from the difficulties to the beauties. With every stroke of the brush, I have found a real appreciation for a simple seed and how that seemingly insignificant singularity is an entity of beauty and perfection unto itself.
What used to be easy to overlook, I now see symbolically in everything.
Yes, we all participate in the madness of global food systems; we all want to eat our fair share to survive and thrive. That is human nature.
However, like my Italian ancestors, I also feel a desire to savor, to appreciate, and, in a sense, to worship at the altar of abundance and love that is our true sustenance; to trust and commune with a divine hope rooted in simple truths.
The gentle thrusting of a seed into the womb of Princess Earth, the careful cultivation of that seed, prayers for rain and sun to nourish it, and the hope for an abundant and precious harvest from the one who is our sustenance are a balm of goodwill. They help reverse the stress and anxiety of our time and return us to gratitude, harmony, balance, and well-being, rather than merely existing.
I breathe a sigh of relief as I write, ponder on, and paint the words of this humble Aztec prayer for corn. The stress of complexities I can neither control nor fully comprehend continues to melt away as I contemplate entrusting all that I am and all that I have into friendly and familial hands, as simple and insignificant as that may seem within the context of modernity.
My hope is that these Mesoamerican-inspired pieces will be able to articulate this feeling I have attempted to share as I have researched, pondered on, and painted both the complexities and beauties of allowing the simple and the sacred to inform and transform the complex, stressful, and anxiety-ridden into greater abundance, divine communion, and deeper gratitude.
Our modern era is full of so much to be grateful for, so long as we can remain grateful for it.
Images:
[Image 1] Teocintle, Mother Earth, 2024, Acrylic on wood panel, 12×9 inches, Mesoamerican series
[Image 2] Princess Earth, 2024, Acrylic on wood panel, 12×9 inches, Mesoamerican series
References:
[1] Prayer For Corn
https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-experts/did-the-aztecs-say-a-prayer-before-eating
[2] Bowman vs. Mansanto
https://www.sustainablebusiness.com/2014/01/supreme-court-sides-with-monsanto-against-organic-farmers-52085/
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/02/18/171896311/farmers-fight-with-monsanto-reaches-the-supreme-court
https://belonging.berkeley.edu/bowman-v-monsanto-monopoly-over-global-food-system
[3] Fertilizer regulation in Europe
https://www.fertilizerseurope.com/agriculture-environment/fertilizing-products-regulation/
https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/news-media/news/addressing-fertiliser-crisis-europe-actions-availability-affordability-and-sustainability
[4] Dutch Farmers revolt
https://unherd.com/2022/07/why-dutch-farmers-are-revolting/
[5] Rewilding in U.K.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSs8FfjUz-c
https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/
[6] Mesoamerican archaeologist Ed Barnhart on the Aztecs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzzE7GOvYz8
