SEEDS: A Collective Voice and by extension the Community Seed Mural Project started in the beginning of 2013 as the brainchild of Mexican born-New Mexico based Artist Jade Leyva and as the first multi-media art exhibit in New Mexico to bring attention to ancient and organic seed preservation. In conjunction with Non profit organization Avokado Artists, we put on the exhibition which was called Seeds: A Collective Voice and it took place in Albuquerque New Mexico on May 4th 2013, at Downtown Contemporary Gallery. All the works created for the exhibit were created around the theme of seeds. There were so many elements, from conceptual art to traditional dances to painting, sculpture, film... Seed experts, farmers and story tellers took part with an open heart.   Five renowned poets wrote original pieces of poetry and performed them live at the  exhibition. A couple groups of mucisians did the same with music. 

 

Seed Broadcast mobile seed broadcasting station was present to. They were recoding people's stories regarding seeds. The community of New Mexico embraced the concept and there were 700 people in attendance of the opening. Participating artists were from Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Denver, Phoenix, Oklahoma, Paris, Mexico City and throughout New Mexico. The exhibit grew branches very quickly, one of those branches is a book in which we are actively working on. Photographer Jim Holbrook, has been taking stunning images of farmers. bee keepers and seed lovers. These images will find their home in a book, where the complete project of seeds a collective voice will come together. In little over two years, it has blossomed into an international, multi-dimensional project that has been presented in México and with extended relationships in Europe, Latin America, The Oceanic and across the US.