Today, I’m adding Black Hen Powder, Polvo de Gallina Negra, to our shared apothecary, to our botanica of story spells we can conjure when we need a boost of magical, creative inspiration. I offer up Polvo de Gallina Negra, a feminist art collective from 1980s Mexico, sometimes hailed as the first feminist art group in Mexico, who used magic, laughter, intellect and art to change the world.

In 1983, in the streets of Mexico City, two witches whose craft was forged in the kiln of art and resistance, and honed on an anvil of humour and politics, or perhaps due to their focus on domestic labour, I should say, baked in the oven and smoothed on the ironing board…Mónica Mayer and Maris Bustamante, cast a feminist spell. Their chosen magic was social subversion through performance, using art as a tool to hex the patriarchy. Named after a Mexican folk remedy to ward off evil, Polvo de Gallina Negra made art with the same intention: to protect, to awaken, to empower and enact the ancient alchemy of rebellion. The Witchcraft of Protection takes many forms.
“The name Polvo de Gallina Negra translates to “black hen powder”, a traditional remedy used as protection against the evil eye, which [Mónica and Maris] anticipated they would receive in relation to the feminist content of their work. The group outlined three key goals they wished to achieve: “(1) To analyze women’s images in art and in the media, (2) to study and to promote the participation of women in art, and (3) to create images based on our experience as women in a patriarchal system, with a feminist perspective and with the goal of transforming the visual world in order to alter reality.”
Black Hen Powder, a folk magic tool with origins in Mexican brujería and Southern hoodoo traditions, is typically used for protection, cleansing, and reversing negativity. It is named for its association with black hens, egg-laying creatures often regarded in magical practices as symbols of defense and transformative energy. And Polvo became this magic personified.