Art of Solidarity: Corn in Nicaragua

Corn in Nicaragua

Corn is found in abundance in the Nicaraguan diet. It is a staple food, consumed on a daily basis. Corn is used as both an ingredient that is mixed into recipes as well as eaten on its own. A main use for corn is in the making of the highly popular tortilla. From my own experience so far in Nicaragua, just about everyday for breakfast, tortillas have been served. A meal such as the one in the photograph below are often accompanied by a hot basket of fresh corn tortillas.

A few days ago, the group visited the Cultural Center and we went to an artist’s studio located on the second floor of the Cultural Center. In the studio there were four artists at work. It was here that I learned about a new art form involving the use of cornhusks. In the studio there was a large table in the center of the room. Around the table were pink sacks filled with corn husks, wooden crates filled with corn husks dyed all sorts of different colors, and the artists themselves seated around the large table working on an art form that involved small pieces of the colorful corn husks being glued to a board to create illustrations of various subjects. The process of making these works of art seemed to involve an initial drawing in pen or pencil. This initial drawing served as a guide for the artist to know where to apply and glue down the small pieces of corn husks to the board. As the artist continues to glue down more and more pieces of corn husk, an image emerges that is enlivened by the expressive, vibrant colors used to dye the husks. Once the surface was entirely covered and the image was complete, an acrylic primer was applied over the entirety of the surface to seal down the corn husks and preserve the final image.

The feeling I got when entering the studio at first was one of curiosity. Although immediately recognized the materials that the artists were using--the corn husks--the mosaic-like appearance of the final image was something very new to me and intriguing. I found it most interesting to see the use of a very accessible material (corn husks) being transformed into a colorful, flat, 2-dimensional image.