"Turtle Island Warrior" by the EJAC CoLAB
Print- Archival Ink Jet Print on Matte Paper
Paper size- 10" x 10", 12" x 12", 14" x 14", 16" x 16", 18" x 18"
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.
Turtle Island Warrior, 2018
Original composition by Shae Uisna
Shae Uisna, John Teply, Gates Callanan, Hugh Russell, Joanne Kollman
Acrylic on wood
“Definitely, we could do something. That’s what the whole thing is about. What we believe is, the Haudenosaunee People were put here on this place on Turtle Island. You know, there’s four white roots spreading out in all directions, for everybody to follow those white roots. Those same white roots are the waterways that spread out in four directions from Onondaga. You can follow to the ocean in all four directions, for all people to follow to seek peace and shelter underneath our Great Tree of Peace. That’s what this journey’s about, is to show them that these things are still happening, that we’re still here - to really re-indigenize the land and re-indigenize the waterways and bring our people back. I had found one of those shields in the front and I was using that. They start shooting at him, and I jump in front of him with that shield, and they start bouncing off the shield. But yeah, it was a really crazy time. I remember all these things.”
Hickory Edwards, Interview excerpt, March 2018
(Please note- there is a white border which varies based on the dimensions of each print)