MinerAlert
MinerAlert
Roots hold memory in the Chihuahuan Desert. Stories move through soil, through breath, through the slow work of tending what nourishes life. Les Sembrantes gathers artists whose practices rise from this landscape, shaped by love for place and the labor of learning how to live with the land rather than over it. The work here grows from listening, from repetition, from hands meeting earth and recognizing a relationship already in motion.
The exhibition showcases works inspired by and created during La Semilla Food Center’s Chihuahuan Desert Cultural Fellowship. The fellowship nurtures artists, cultural practitioners, and advocates whose work is rooted in the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem, bringing together different voices and practices each year to honor the ways food, memory, and belonging remain inseparable.
In the art itself, each material, gesture, and story offers a way for people to connect with the land, its histories, and the generations who have tended it before. The borderlands reveal themselves as a shared landscape of relation, alive with what has been and what is still to come. The artists of Les Sembrantes listen to the land as archive and teacher, tracing forms of care that persist despite erasure and exhaustion. The soil remembers. The people remember. Through this work, sowing becomes a way of imagining the future into being.
As sembrantes, the four featured artists honor those who intentionally labor. They challenge extractive systems and cultivate collective sovereignty. Janette Terrazas, a visionary textile artist from Ciudad Juárez, transforms complex data on climate change and social crises into powerful woven narratives of resilience and hope. Amalia Mondragón, a queer two spirit vocalist, multi instrumentalist, and narrative strategist, infuses the exhibition with the counter culture spirit and deep heritage of the tri state borderlands. Glassmaker Juan Pablo Hernandez offers a distinct material lens on the desert's complex ecosystem. Finally, Eva Gabriella Flynn, a Chicana interdisciplinary artist, weaves historical narratives and personal experiences directly into the landscapes of the American Southwest. By showcasing artists whose practices embody this pedagogy of place, Les Sembrantes asserts that the border's edge is a fertile ground for understanding the whole. It is a living archive, a call to action, and a bold assertion: The soil will save us, if we save it. In honoring the sembrantes, we honor the possibility of a future cultivated with intention, rooted in justice, and nourished by the wisdom of land and community.
Les Sembrantes: A Celebration of Desert Foodways Culture
Thursday, February 05, 2026
Treat your senses to the sights, sounds, and tastes of desert foodways—how people grew, prepared, and shared food in our desert region. This event highlighted the arts and cultural practices of local agroecology as experienced by the intergenerational practitioners of the La Semilla Food Center community. Guests gathered to celebrate the stories, knowledge, and creative traditions that honored the people and practices sustaining desert foodways.
The Art and Flavor of Desert Foods at the MACC
Saturday, February 21, 2026 | Location: Mexican American Cultural Center
Local food practitioners guided participants through two different hands-on cooking workshops at the Mexican American Cultural Center during the exhibition, highlighting the rich flavors, techniques, and traditions of desert foodways. Participants had the opportunity to taste, learn, and connect with the region’s heritage in a welcoming, community-centered setting.
During this session, Lupe Lugo, a promotora with La Semilla Food Center’s Community Education program, guided participants through a recipe and dialogue centered on nopal (prickly pear cactus).
This workshop was modeled after La Semilla Food Center’s Cocina Intercambios—dialogues that typically closed the Community Education program’s Pláticas Series, which included classes on cooking, nutrition, and gardening. The Cocina Intercambio was also offered as a standalone session as part of La Semilla’s Chihuahuan Desert Cultural Fellowship.
Corrido Workshop with Amalia Mondragón: Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Participants learned about Corrido history, music, and writing while creating collective songs that amplified underrepresented voices, honored cultural memory, and reclaimed the stories of Mexico and its borderlands.
The Art and Flavor of Desert Foods at the MACC
Saturday, April 04, 2026 | Location: Mexican American Cultural Center
The second workshop in this series was led by Deana Ortega, a local food practitioner whose work celebrates desert ingredients and community-based culinary traditions. In this session, participants created a seasonal desert dish, explored traditional techniques, and enjoyed tasting their finished recipes. The workshop offered a hands-on opportunity to experience the tastes, methods, and cultural stories that shape the region’s foodways.
Farm Blessing and Community Planting
Saturday, Apr 11, 2026 | Location: La Semilla Community Farm
Participants gathered for a special event honoring the land, its cycles, and its synergies as the planting season was marked at La Semilla Community Farm alongside farmers and food culture practitioners of all ages. La Semilla Community Farm farmers guided a community planting day accompanied by performances, food, and collective intention setting.
Plumas, Colores, y Vida en El Río Bravo
Saturday, March 28, 2026 | Location: Rio Bosque Park
Janette Terrazas led an afternoon program at Rio Bosque Park, exploring the landscapes that inspire her work. The experience began with birdwatching and a gentle walk, observing the rhythms of the ecosystem, and continued with a cochineal pH workshop, where participants tested river water and saw how art and science intersect in agroecology.