Mustang Jane

Janette Terrazas (Mustang Jane) merges politics and art in her powerful, multidisciplinary work that both calls us to remember, and calls us to build better worlds. While we didn’t get the opportunity to meet Jane in person, her presence is undeniable in Juárez. From our first trip into the city, we were struck by the amount of black and pink crosses were painted onto walls, telephone poles, highway signage, and boundary markers across Juárez. We later found out from Alejandra that these crosses were the work of Jane and Ni En More, a transnational group which Jane co-founded that’s dedicated to bringing attention to the femicide crisis that Juárez has been swept up by in recent years; Their work focuses particularly on liberation for womxn working in the maquiladora industry and Indigenous Raramurí womxn living in the city. The black cross with a pink background was created by Guillermina González Flores, the sister of Sagrario González Flores, a 1998 feminicidio victim. As Jane writes on her blog, “Hoy en día [la cruza] es un ícono de justicia para la ciudad.” // “Today, the cross is a symbol of justice for the city.”

Outside of her work with Ni En More, Mustang Jane has established herself as an illustrator, radio host, and textile artist who pushes decorative arts to new limits. She often involves the community in the creation and installation of these projects. To give a sense of the weight and significance of her projects and her approach to collaboration, her recent installation, Cartografía textil del feminicidio (2017) invites womxn to contribute to a collective piece, with each laying down textiles that recognize the 96 femicides that occurred in Ciudad Juárez in 2017. A guiding purpose of the project is to combat the fact that the names of femicide victims are often ignored or unknown in dominant discourse. Jane hopes to assert the importance of their lives through this participatory presentation. Check out her tumblr page here to see images from Cartografía textil del feminicidio and more. Stay up-to-date with Jane’s most recent projects on Instagram @mustangjane

In her own words: “Janette Terrazas, alias Mustang Jane, is a visual artist, cultural activist and cultural promoter. Her textile work is intensely informed by issues concerning gender. She organizes and fights for the rights of women in her community, as well as the rights of indigenous people and the trans gender population. She does this through art and cultural initiatives. In addition, she has great interest and love for botany and community-building processes. Jane is one of the initiators of NI EN MORE, the Cd. Juárez project coordinator, and on the natural dyeing team.”

Below are images from Jane’s most recent installation at the ECO Spirit Festival in La Union, New Mexico, a work-in-progress that weaves plastic bags in a natural loom around gathered branches. Image credits of installation to Celisse Isabelle, featured image credit to Labú.