What is the Great Tortilla Conspiracy?

The Great Tortilla Conspiracy is a
collective based on food. The founding
document of the Conspiracy cites the
miraculous appearance of several deities, not
least of which is the Virgin of Guadalupe,
upon various surfaces—clouds, rocks, folded
laundry, etc. The tortilla roots of miraculous
apparitions goes back to the early days at the
Galeria de la Raza in the Mission District of
San Francisco.
Founded in the late seventies by activist
artists, René Yañez, and José Montoyaas a satirical response to the phenomenon
of sacred images of the Virgin Mary or Jesus
appearing in unusual settings, such as the
image of Jesus Maria Rubio found on a tortillain 1977, the Great Tortilla Conspiracy has
grown into a creative way to make a statement,
on a tortilla.
When The Great Tortilla Conspiracybegan, images were burned onto
tortillas with a hot coat hanger. Today detailed
drawings are printed using edible ink, so they
can be shared as food or preserved as art. Now
many artists participate in the conspiracy,
creating edible art in response to social
injustice, in response to art, in the spirit of the
absurd, in what boils down to a delicious actof performance art.
The Great Tortilla Conspiracy is coming to
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art on September
21 for the opening of Cenote de Sueños: The
Art of Juana Alicia. SVMA.org