Alexis Ruby Trevizo

Being born into an immigrant family, Alexis was aware of the adversity certain communities may face in Phoenix, Arizona. Through a strong sense of conviction, Alexis began her social justice and activism work early in her life. This led to her pursuing an education that led to a path of becoming an immigration and civil rights lawyer. While in school, Alexis felt that her work would have a bigger impact through grassroots organizations. Direct work with her communities is how she wanted to serve, so she decided to take a moment away from school to refocus, realign and recalibrate. 

 

While away from school Alexis found herself in an art career. She doesn’t see art as “a thing you do” but as “a way of life”. Through this perspective, she has had a hand in many creative projects such as fine art, murals, sculptures, and performance art pieces that have been shown in and for various institutions, such as The Phoenix Art Museum and the Heard Museum. 

 

For the past 6 years, Alexis has been experimenting with what is possible, in terms of growing food in the desert, eventually owning a food forest in downtown Phoenix with over 500 fruit trees and medicinal plants. She is approaching the endeavor as a big art project; the lines and limits of growing food have been pushed and redrawn. 

 

Healing is brought through many ways, but food has always captivated her attention. Part of the adversity that her communities face is access to clean food. Which means multiple things, it means clean to eat - free of pesticides and harmful chemicals but also energetically and spiritually clean. Was the food harvested through fair and ethical practices? 

 

Her artistic perspective and experience growing food is now directed towards many projects involving plant and plant medicines. She offers educational workshops in regenerative agroforestry and in the past year she has worked alongside various educational institutions such as Arizona State University, U of A, and the Universidad por el Bienestar Benito Juarez Garcia in Mexico. Currently, she is helping build a retreat center in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico which is expected to complete in 3 years. She is also a part of the Cihuapactli Collective, working alongside naturopathic doctors, doulas, midwives, and birth workers, to plant the medicines they will be using in their practice for a wellness center. She is also the proud Co-Owner of the Food Forest Cooperative which is the second cooperative to incorporate in the state of Arizona.