Las hermanas de la milpa / The sisters of the milpa
Like other initiatives devised by La Morada restaurant in collaboration with Archives in Common, Las hermanas de la milpa/The sisters of the milpa seeks to disseminate indigenous knowledges and practices, and at the same time to conceptualize and expand the ways of doing mutual aid. The cook book series is the embodied memory, in narrative form, of the chef of one of the most important mutual aid hubs that emerged during the pandemic in NYC (and perhaps the only one that still continues to operate as such), and an eloquent document of the ongoing struggle for food sovereignty led by migrant indigenous communities.
In the first volume, published in collaboration with Archives in Common in Fall 2022, Chef Natalia shares eight Oaxacan recipes which use all the parts of the squash plant, in different stages, teaches how to take care of the soil and gives tips to grow food at home. The SPCUNY project entails the production of the second and third volumes in the series: the book of beans and the book of corn, adopting the same collaborative methodology devised by Chef Natalia and SPCUNY Fellow, Ángeles Donoso Macaya.
Las hermanas de la milpa/The sisters of the milpa is also an art project. Designed by Amanda Chung from Lucky Risograph and printed in risograph, all three volumes include illustrations by poet, artist and activist Marco Saavedra, and photos by different Latin American and Latinx photographers, including Camila Falquez, Zahara Gómez, Cinthya Santos-Briones, Odalys Burgoa, and Roy Bazán.
Timeline
- Book launching of first volume at The Graduate Center, late January / early February 2023
- Tentative book launching of second volume, May 2023
- Tentative book launching of third volume, June or July 2023
Sneak peek
A sneak peak at the book, shared by @luckyrisograph in November 2022.
Making Of
Behind-the-scenes footage of assembling the book from @luckyrisograph.
SPCUNY Artist
Ángeles Donoso Macaya
Collaborators
Marco Saavedra: Marco, a poet and a painter, lived as an undocumented immigrant for 27 years and until he won political asylum stemming from his immigrant justice work in early 2022. He works at his family’s Oaxacan restaurant in the South Bronx, La Morada, and enjoys painting and exploring the Hudson Valley with his baby niece. He is co-author of Shadows Then Light and of Eclipse of Dreams (2020). His activism is featured in the award-winning film The Infiltrators (2019).
