Great Tortilla Conspiracy

The Great Tortilla Conspiracy is a collective of four artists—Jos Sances, Rene Yañez, Rio Yañez, and Art Hazelwood—who use tortillas as a print medium. Imprinted with chocolate-based ink and meant to be eaten, the tortilla-as-artwork touches on issues of cultural identity, immigration, the price of staple foods, and the rise of genetically engineered corn. Each member of the collective is an artist and activist in his own right: Jos Sances is the art director of Alliance Graphics and has completed multiple public transit mural commissions; Rene Yañez has promoted Latino and Chicano artists in the Bay Area for 40 years, including organizing the earliest institution-sponsored Day of the Dead celebrations in the 1970s; Rio Yañez is a curator at SomArts Cultural Center and created the Ghetto Frida series; and Art Hazelwood is a printmaker whose prints are in collections that include the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress, and is a curator whose 20-plus exhibitions have travelled nationwide.