Colectivo Cherani is a 2022–2024 Jane Lombard Fellow, nominated by Pablo José Ramírez and Amanda de la Garza Mata for the Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice Prize as part of the Vera List Center’s Correction* cycle of programs.

Colectivo Cherani is a group of artists from Cherán K’eri in the State of Michoacán, Mexico. In 2011, their community fought in defense of regaining control of their own territory from organized crime-backed loggers and corrupt politicians. From then onward, they have been committed to exploring art-making as a way of community organizing, preserving memory, and building shared knowledge and collective responsibility in public space. Their work is interdisciplinary in nature, emanating from the deep roots of the Purhépecha culture. 

The founding members of the Colectivo Cherani are Giovanni Fabian Guerrero, Alain Silva Guardian, Betel Cucué, Francisco Huaroco Rosas, and Ariel Pañeda. 

“The Cherani Collective is exemplary insofar as it represents a direct articulation between activism and art. Cherani’s work is characterized precisely by being collective, its murals and projects involve the community and deal with issues that interest its members, such as the defense of natural resources and the preservation of historical memory.”

-Fabiola Palacios and Pablo José Ramírez, Jane Lombard Prize Council