Tag: Maize

Indigenous corn

On By Matthew Sakiestewa GilbertIn AIS at Illinois, Hopi films, Hopi photography, Native films, Victor Masayesva Jr.2 Comments

This afternoon I took a break from grading final exams to check on our corn, which students from the University of Illinois planted last week. As many of you know, we are filming this corn for a film by Victor Masayesva, Jr. titled “Maize.”

When I arrived at the plot, I was glad to see that our corn was coming up.

The first photo is of Hopi sweet corn (twaktsi), and the second one shows Tzeltal corn (teosinte) of southern Mexico. They are planted next to each other.

I also added a few photos to give readers a sense of the plot and surrounding area.

Hopi sweet corn (twaktsi), photograph by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert
Teosinte, Photograph by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert
Photograph by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert
Photograph by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

Filming “Maize”

On By Matthew Sakiestewa GilbertIn AIS at Illinois, Hopi films, Victor Masayesva Jr.5 Comments

Last week we began filming the University of Illinois portion of Maize, a film by Hopi filmmaker Victor Masayesva, Jr. of Hotevilla. In the first photo, taken by my colleague John McKinn, I am filming a group of UofI graduate students from the Department of Crop Sciences planting four rows of Hopi sweet corn.

The second photo is of Professor Stephen Moose as he explains the different varieties of corn that his students planted in the plot, including Tzeltal Maya (southern Mexico), Nahua (central Mexico), Hopi, and genetically modified corn.

The corn should be up by the end of the week. We’ll continue filming throughout the summer.

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Photograph by John McKinn
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Photograph by John McKinn