Water Protector Vessel #NoDAPL

Water Protector Vessel
Coil built glazed micaceous clay

2016

Mni wiconi, water is life.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe -- backed by every other tribe within the Oceti Sakowin/ Great Sioux Nation, along with people from tribes all over the globe and non-Indigenous allies worldwide -- is fighting to protect the Missouri River basin, tribal lands and sacred sites from invasion by the Dakota Access Pipeline. The people who are standing up for water and the living earth at Sacred Stone Camp are protectors. To protect and defend is a sacred duty. Protestor has become a loaded term, used by media outlets and politicians to demonize and dismiss the efforts of those labeled as such, especially if applied to people of color.

Our water protectors will not be dismissed. The #NoDAPL struggle comes at a crucial time in our collective present: energy extraction industries, empowered by government institutions are destroying our environment to the detriment of our survival as a species, and the entire web of life. It is a battle the people are fighting with non-violent means and spiritual power against the destructive and corrupt forces waging a war on the earth.

Violence as a tactic against our people will not work in this long term struggle. For too long, Indigenous peoples have endured the brunt of environmental racism. Might does not make right, despite the show of power American forces (military, police, agencies and corporations) have used to impose their will and subdue people they deem lesser, or a threat to their profits.

This struggle is bringing forth the necessary voices of Indigenous peoples, which America and other colonizing powers have tried to silence for hundreds of years. Without our voices the world is out of balance. Our indigenous peoples and cultures are essential to this human family and this world. We demand the respect we deserve beginning with free, prior and informed consent.

This vessel pays tribute to the water protectors past, present and future.