"The Trees Are My Blood" by the EJAC Painting CoLAB
Print- Archival Ink Jet Print on Matte Paper
Paper size- 12" x 16"
This archival print is of a painting by our in-house group of artists, the EJAC Painting CoLAB. The piece was inspired by a quote from an interview with Hickory Edwards, who was a Water Protector at the Standing Rock protests.
The Trees Are My Blood, 2018
Original composition by Andromyda Wagerman
Andromyda Wagerman, Jessica Lynn Clark, Danny Popovici, Melissa Adriene Reifler, John Teply, Joanne Kollman
Acrylic on wood
“Where did you come from? Where does everyone come from? and you point to that pole. Everywhere; they came from everywhere. It’s a family. That’s what it really is, is our family. Our family came from everywhere, and it’s part of this great circle of life. It’s hard to explain this in one single thing, but I think this could explain it as well, is that the circle of life, it comes from the ground. We’ve been taught this since we were kids, that our next generation is looking up from the ground to us. These plants and animals grow from the ground, and eat these plants and animals, and then we eat the plants and use them for medicine; and we eat the animals, and throughout these nutrients giving from these plants we are able to create the next generation of people. Then our old (people) pass on and go back into the ground, creating this whole cycle of life. Throughout that whole cycle of life - plants, animals, people, and then the death of our elders going back into the ground - is that water. None of this can exist without water.”
Hickory Edwards, Interview excerpt, 2018
(Please note- there is a white border which varies based on the dimensions of each print)