STRONG AS CORNSTALKS
Janet Rogers and Álvaro D. Márquez
This gorgeous collaboration between poet and spoken word artist Janet Rogers (Ohsweken) and Àlvaro D. Márquez (Monterey Park) is a playful and powerful look at shared histories and the movement of people prior to the imposition of colonial borders, and the power symbol of creation that corn has become. This work is presented by the Consulate General for Canada in Los Angeles.
Strong As Corn Stalks Janet Rogers 2021
when she fell she floated
suspended holding time
when all was water
bringing tokens from another
not empty handed
but blessings in every colour
she is a bridge of earth and sky
her palms are vessels
germination of provisions
beginnings for the people
and those yet to be
migrations vibrating trades
many powerful deitys
to hold the soul of it
we are nothing
without foundation
from where you grow
you show us nomadic
ways of survival
we are you personified
I am red jelly succulence - Onhe o : weh
they are white opaque resistance - Onen o : gen
we are brown united Creatives - Ha Go Wah
flint relations not forgotten
in the march of this cycle
with skin of silk
your milk grows
whole nations
The sun shining on your face shines on my face too. In seasons we the people obey laws
natural and new. Winds may push and rains may rise, we stand tall steady as corn stalks
emblems of perpetuity generational in generosity
JANET ROGERS
Janet is a Mohawk/Tuscarora poet, media producer and performance artist. She lives on her home territory of Six Nations of the Grand River where she operates the small publishing press, Ojistoh Publishing. She has seven published poetry titles and is the current McMaster University and Hamilton Public Library Writer in Residence (2020-2021). Janet combines her literary talents with her passion for media making to produce audio and video poetry. Her video poem Ego of a Nation was screened widely around the world in 2020 and 2021 and won Best Music Video at the American Indian International Film Festival 2020.
ÁLVARO D. MÁRQUEZ
Álvaro D. Márquez is a multidisciplinary artist, educator and researcher who works primarily with printmaking, fiber art, sculpture, and installation. Utilizing a research-based methodology, their work explores the history of displacement in the Americas, starting with Indigenous dispossession and genocide to current issues around gentrification, segregation, and questions around the unhoused. Their work has been showed nationally and internationally, and they are the current artist-in-residence at the El Segundo Museum of Art. They hold an MA in American Studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California, as well as an MFA in Printmaking from CSU Long Beach.