A woman with glasses holds a piece of dried corn in both hands with a dark background.

Alyson McClaran

A woman with glasses holds a piece of dried corn in both hands with a dark background.

The 2022 class of the long-running Corn Mothers project will be honored in a forthcoming History Colorado exhibition running from September through September 2023. An accompanying book of the 22 inductees will be released Oct. 6 at an opening reception.  

Now in its 14th year, the project is an act of narrative preservation, celebrating the voices of women of the Southwest with award-winning photojournalism and storytelling, said Renee Fajardo of the Metropolitan State University of Denver Department of Chicana/o Studies, curator and artistic creator of the project. 

“The Corn Mothers represent the continuation of the spirit, heart and soul, of what it means to be part and parcel of this land,” she said. “When you’re from this land, you always know it.”  

The 22 inductees join more than 50 other Corn Mothers in an ever-growing cadre of archiving, supporting and engaging historically marginalized and underrepresented communities via oral tradition.  

The inductees include Alicia Cardenas, whose physical presence was taken along with four other slaying victims Dec. 27. An incorporative community tribute will be planned as part of the exhibition, with more information to come.  

“Words cannot describe the tremendous sense of grief our community is experiencing,” Fajardo said. “But to honor (Alicia), and in keeping with the spirit of what a Corn Mother represents, we move forward with an abundance of love.” 

2022 Corn Mothers inductees 

Ellen Alires Trujillo 
Juliana Aragon Fatula
Batkhishig Batochir (Baja) 
Genevieve Canales
Alicia Cardenas
Tina Cartagena
Connie Margaret Coca
Karen D. Gonzales
Norma Johnson
Elena Holly Klaver
Deborah Martinez Martinez
Lucha Martinez
Jennifer McBride
Laura Naranjo
Adriene Norris
Sandra Ortega
Erica Padilla
Jo Elizabeth Pinto 
Shirley Romero
Evangeline Sena 
Marge Taniwaki   
Jeanette Trujillo 

The Corn Mothers project is made possible by the Chicano Humanities Arts Council; the Colorado Folks Arts Council; MSU Denver’s Department of Chicana/o Studies, the MSU Denver Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Journey Through Our Heritage program and U.S. Bank.  

For 2022 Return of the Corn Mother book preorders, click here. 

For more information on the project, contact Renee Fajardo at [email protected], 303-615-1179 (office) or 720-329-0869 (cell).