MEZTLI PROJECTS
& WE RISE 2022
Abuelita’s Remedios (Grandma’s Remedies) - La Cultura Cura Health Fair
Abuelita’s Remedios (Grandma’s Remedies) - La Cultura Cura Health Fair is a free culturally-based wellness & health gathering on Saturday, May 7th, 2022, from 10 am to 2 pm in East Los Angeles honoring our ancestral knowledge and healing practices featuring workshops, marketplace, activities, healthy food demo, culturally-relevant mental health resources, and more.
This gathering is organized by Meztli Projects, Indigenous Wellness Collective (IWC), and the Los Angeles Indigenous Peoples Alliance (LAIPA) with support from youth, Elders, and local community organizations.
Our gathering aims to connect our East LA Community to forms and practices of healing that our ancestors stewarded and gifted us, as-well-as help raise awareness of the services that are available to assist them in their daily lives, from mental health support to conflict resolution.
- en español -
Abuelita's Remedios - La Cultura Cura Feria de la Salud es una reunión gratuita de bienestar y salud basada en nuestra cultura el sábado 7 de mayo de 2022, de 10 am a 2 pm en el Este de Los Ángeles, que honra nuestro conocimiento ancestral y prácticas curativas con talleres, un mercado, actividades, demostración de alimentos saludables, recursos de salud mental culturalmente relevantes y más.
Esta reunión está organizada por Proyectos Meztli, el Colectivo de Bienestar Indígena (IWC) y la Alianza de Pueblos Indígenas de Los Ángeles (LAIPA) con el apoyo de jóvenes, ancianos y organizaciones comunitarias locales.
Nuestra reunión tiene como objetivo conectar a nuestra comunidad del este de Los Ángeles con las formas y prácticas de curación que nuestros antepasados nos administraron y nos regalaron, así como ayudar a crear conciencia sobre los servicios que están disponibles para ayudarlos en sus vidas diarias, desde apoyo de salud mental hasta la resolución de conflictos.
Artist-Led Projects
Wisdom Moves In Spaces by Erick Iñiguez (Photobook Project)
Wisdom Moves In Spaces is a photography project by Erick Iñiguez capturing the portraits of 20 Elders and “Elders in Training,” individuals entrusted by community members to play important roles such as supporting folks through community healing approaches eg therapy, talking circles, physical healing, alterNative medicines centered on Indigenous practices, values, and principles. The portraits will be accompanied by interviews and stories documenting the important work these individuals steward, how they hold space, and how they bring wisdom into the spaces we inhabit, commune in, and create in. This project will be compiled into a book and exhibition.
EarthRIse Living Sculpture by Joy Angela Anderson (at El Sereno Community Garden)
As we navigate re-entering a new landscape–having all experienced a global pandemic, grief, loss, fear, isolation, social conflicts and everything that rose to the surface during these past two years, non-conventional, creative and accessible activities to support mental health are necessary more than ever. In consideration of an art project that would provide meaningful interaction, collectivity, collaboration and accessible connections in support of mental health, I propose to create a living sculpture installation at the El Sereno Community Garden. Situated in a garden space to highlight that caring and connections with the land as a practice in reciprocity and groundedness, are essential to maintain mental health and wellness.
This living sculpture would be activated by dance, plant, soil and movement meditations with weavings of natural materials in response to some questions such as; How do we sustain joy even through the darkness? In contemplation of darkness and the idea of darkness as sacred, it is in these dark places where all life is birthed. Seeds grow from the nutrients of the underground and we are all birthed from the nourishment in the dark womb space.
There is much to learn from one of the largest living organisms that exists underground called Mycelium. They are the thread-like roots of fungus that function as an underground network for the purpose of mutual benefit for the ecosystem to thrive. Weaving all of these ideas together, I propose to co-create a living sculpture installation with these themes. This living mycelial sculpture will call attention to soil, seeds, plants, somatic and Earth care practices. Integrating dance to bring attention to our bodies as an extension of the Earth. Dance always helps to cultivate endurance and lift up the spirit. In care-taking the land we care for our bodies and our communities. When the land is cared for, we are nourished.
The installations will take shape as a participatory sculpture where choreography and community connections during the process of making the sculpture will contribute to its living form - highlighting the process over the final product. This living sculpture will culminate with a festival-like program that will include a dance party with local DJs to embody celebration and joy! This celebration would also align with the 20th anniversary of the El Sereno Community Garden. The living sculpture activations are an extension of their ‘Open Garden Saturday’ program beginning at 8 am -12 pm.
As a native resident of Ostungna (El Sereno), having grown up there, It would be a great honor to return and create these offerings and connections to the land.
This program is part of WE RISE 2022. Free and open to all ages!!!!
Join us for free community wellness workshops by healing artists! Participants will be introduced to creative movement meditation practices, native plants and performance opportunities to nurture our relationship with the land and each other. These workshops uplift that caring for and connections with the Earth and our bodies as a practice of reciprocity and harmony, are essential for mental health wellness and the health of our planet. Participants who attend all workshops will have the opportunity to perform and contribute to a garden gallery event of site-specific living sculptures, participatory installations and a dance party to celebrate the El Sereno Community Garden’s 20th Anniversary of growing!
May 7: Choreographies of Presence with Joy Angela Anderson
An introduction to movement meditation practices. We will tune into the potentiality of grounding into the present with breath work, yoga asanas, plants and dance. A practice of presence allows us to be open to receive; to move forward; to support the release of emotions of the past or future and will create more space to birth new ideas into form! In this workshop, we will co-create choreographies that express our explorations in the garden and our processing of the current times. Together, we will connect and bring healing to the land and each other as we co-create dances to bring balance and harmony to our bodies and the land.
About Joy:
Joy or (Alegria) is an independent curator, yoga/movement/meditation facilitator and artist/educator from El Sereno, California. She integrates dance, yoga and plant medicines as a healing, creative, meditative and regenerative practice for mental health and wellness. As a Chicana, native of East L.A., Chicanx art and culture informed her social and political consciousness. Her background in arts, culture, performance and activism led her to receive a BA in “World Arts and Cultures” from UCLA School of Arts and Architecture and a Master’s degree in “Art/Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere” from USC Roski School of Fine Arts in 2011. After a career as a museum-gallery educator and public programs coordinator, working at several Los Angeles Contemporary art museums and artist/activist-run spaces, Joy’s devotion to healing arts, dance and plants for mental health, led her to work independently as a curator, dance/movement facilitator yoga teacher, herbalist and raw vegan artisan-chef and entrepreneur. It was especially through Yoga Teacher Training and dance performances with Critical Mass Dance Company, WXPT and HomeLA, that Joy recognized and remembered the value of movement and meditation as transformative healing practices.
May 14: Native California Herbs for Healing & Joy with Michelle Wong:
“Humans have used plant medicines ever since humans came into existence, about 200,000 years ago, That means that our ancestors experienced an intense natural selection. Those who responded to plant medicines survived and passed their genes on. We are the products of this natural selection. Our bodies are designed to respond to plant medicines.”
Michelle Wong is an herbalist and licensed Physician of Chinese Medicine, who has studied herbal medicine in the tradition of the Chumash. Under the tutelage of Dr. James Adams, and Chumash healer Cecilia Garcia. Michelle incorporates the sustainable usage of native herbs in her practice.
Come learn about how the First Nations in our area used mugwort, white sage, and black sage for health, and mental wellness, but also how their significance is woven into the care and appreciation for the natural environment.
May 21: De Tu Sangre Soy Yo/ (of your blood I am) Marcia Lopez of Women’s True Healing
Movement as prayer, movement as devotion, movement as an offering.
This exploratory workshop will offer you a remembrance of when dance was a devotional practice to life, to Earth, to the Creator, and to each other. Drawing on the wisdom received through the study of worship, temple dance, and experiences with plant medicine - this workshop will be an invitation to realize that our blood is one and the same with the Earth. As we live, breathe, eat, and drink - creation is manifested within us. Bread and Water/ Body and Blood
What devotion can be expressed through our movement?
You will be invited to become attuned to the environment, attuned to the elements, and perhaps experience a primal movement. Can we recognize that everywhere we touch is sacred, every place a temple, and what then is our dance? I invite you to consider a passage from one of Carlos Castenada's books and the teachings of Don Juan: He said that if a warrior's life had been impeccable, death would stand back and wait when it was time for the warrior to die, giving him time to dance his last dance—the culminating and final expression of his life.
Dance can be our prayer. Dance can be a devotion. Dance can be an honoring to all life has given us.
This workshop will be presented by Marcia Lopez.
Marcia Lopez is known for her work with Women's True Healing - offering holistic female reproductive wellness services to the communities of LA county. For this class she will draw on her background in dance, martial arts, meditation, prayer and energy practices. Dance has always been a personal and devotional expression for her. In her intimate circles - dance has always been a way of celebrating, communing, and praying.
It is an honor to present this as a community practice. Thank you.
May 22: 3:00pm - 8:00pm: Tierra Mi Cuerpo ~ Earth Embodied:
Garden Gallery, Participatory Installations, Site-Specific Living Sculptures and Dance Party Celebration w/ La Junta!
Come see what community created and celebrate El Sereno Community Garden’s 20th Anniversary of growing! Dance and lift up your spirits in radical Joy!