The Corn Mother Storyteller

 The Corn Mother Storyteller is rising, as if from the dust of the Agua Fria, in New Mexico.

On Wednesday, June 13, I took the Rail Runner from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, to spend the afternoon with Pola Lopez, and to see the Corn Mother Storyteller Mural she's working on there, supported by Three Sisters Collective. Tara Trudell, poet and artist, and Autumn Dawn Gomez (co-founder of Three Sisters) joined up with Pola and helped her paint. 

The Corn Mother is the heart of the whole mural. Many themes and meanings converge with her at the center. She is a storyteller. As you can see, there are children in her lap. Sometimes, she is shown with 100 children, all of them as hungry for stories as they are for food.   

I took these photos as the artists worked. They also shared with me some of the meanings hidden in the work, and a few of the stories held by each "pottery shard" that is placed within the larger mural. 

The colors of the traditional ceramic pottery fragments found in this area are black and white. That accounts for the brilliant contrasts of red, black and white you see at work here.

Corn Mother tells many stories in this mural. It was an honor and a blessing to see and hear some of the stories buried in the past, and emerging back to life in this specific neighborhood of Santa Fe, New Mexico. There is much loss and pain, many hopes and dreams, and astounding beauty living within these vibrant colors, electric geometries and potent symbols.
There is much to learn, more to be experienced, and much to DO, or STOP doing.  

Looking at this, what do you see, hear, and feel?

Click here to track the details of the Three Sisters Mural Narrative: Corn Maiden Storyteller ~ Shards of Our Stories - written by Pola Lopez ©2022

In later posts, I'll add more photos and my own thoughts about how these stories live in our collective imaginations. More than once, I've thought about Charles Dickens' devotion to fairy tales, theater, clowning and the Arabian Nights. He weaved the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future into a holiday celebration of children, games, and storytelling. Like this mural, Dickens constantly dramatized a dire warning, especially in his vision of Ignorance and Want, about the sacrifice of children to economics.  

Mural location is at Baca St and Hickox St.  

Many thanks to Stanley and Marty for getting me to and from the Rail Runner station in Albuequerque.