nobody's free until everybody's free
- Fannie Lou Hamer (1971)
My art process often begins in researching people's ties to the land, specifically thru their relations with different plants.
In my research for Palestine and their native plants, I stumbled on this photo from 2005 that broke me Palestinians are ANCESTRALLY ROOTED to the olive trees. These trees are literally part of their family. And Zionists weaponized that.
Thinking of the children shaking in trauma, never to return to the purity of youth again
Thinking of the elders whose years go beyond the occupation yet may end with the genocide
Thinking of the men coming together as search parties, caretakers and more-- continuously defying western media's demonization
And in all this heartbreak, rage follows. Because, these atrocities are not new in human history. I'm enraged thinking of how their decades old occupation is not new, but instead, a pattern.
The power grab for land and mama earth's resources via displacement of indigenous peoples, disrupting their ways of life, fcking m*rder is a PATTERN we see across the world.
From Hawai'i, the Philippines, right here on Turtle Island -- only to name a few -- I also mourn for all of us whose ancestors' ties to the land has been disrupted by yt supremacy's destruction.
We gotta stay recognizing these patterns and keep pushing back.
nobody's free until everybody's free