Returning to the Land

Returning to the Land is a photographic series about native American corn. About the relationship of the Quechua, Mixe, Otomi, Nahua and Wari indigenous peoples with the seed that gave beginning to the time, to the agricultural cycles. Seed with which they observed the skies and the stars to dream of corn. The ancestors of America say that from the cob the gods sculpted our human bodies.

Secret tunnels, forbidden languages, enchanted objects and a survivor in his last breaths who found a corn made of gold. Those were the storylines that shaped my imaginary and my identity.
When I returned to Cusco, in the Peruvian Andes, I was told that the maize made of gold had been melted down to decorate the crown of a holy virgin.
But I came across worlds of rituals and devotions to corn as a sacred plant, as the basis of life and identity of indigenous peoples. I found a ten-thousand-year-old corn phytolith from a burial ritual and returned to the question of my childhood: who made such unique objects and why?

The moment we become aware of the relationship of the indigenous farmers with biodiversity, we will understand how they have preserved more than 54 varieties of corn in Peru and 65 in Mexico over more than 8,700 years and how these two territories are related. "The corn children told us that this year the harvest will be scarce but that we must continue to perform our rituals. Then they will stay here alive”, Martin de la Cruz, a Nahua priest, said to me.

Returning to the land is a photographic series about the rites of the native American corn. About the spiritual relationship of the Quechua, Mixe, Otomi, Nahua and Wari indigenous peoples with the seed that gave beginning to time, to the agricultural cycles. Seed with which they observed the skies and the stars to dream with the spirit of the Earth.

Indigenous agricultural and spiritual knowledge has been transmitted since ancient times and today is linked to the preservation of the rarest cobs. Revealing the spiritual world of indigenous farmers means demonstrating that their voice and point of view are legitimate and means to recognize their great contribution to the world. I believe the spiritual relationship of indigenous farmers with their seeds cannot be unrepresented. It cannot be forgotten.