Zoë Heyn-Jones – Mexico City/Mexica (among many other layers of Indigenous presence and history).

Marigold & Pumpkin (summer 2025)

I planted marigolds at home in the Portales neighbourhood of Mexico City as part of the “Supporting the Companions” project. It was lovely to participate in this project, knowing that folks across the hemisphere were growing them together with shared intention. It was also a really interesting way to put this variety into conversation with the variety that becomes extremely prevalent throughout the city/country during the Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) season, the Mexican or Aztec marigold (Tagetes erecta), known in Nahuatl as cempasúchil, which has a strong cultural significance, as its petals are thought to guide spirits home and are placed on every family’s altar.

I also planted pumpkin on the sidewalk in the Narvarte neighbourhood of Mexico City, as part of ongoing urban regeneration actions with friends and collaborators Beatriz Paz Jiménez & Leto Delher. These two amazing people/artists often lead edible plant identification walks and other regenerative actions in many regions of the city, always with a decolonial, anticapitalist, nonbinary framework – I highly recommend checking out their work! [On IG: @beatrizapaz @quelitedeciudad]