Nicolas Lampert, American
We Came to Fight the Black Snake, 2016
This is a powerful piece, using words and graphics to convey a strong message. A Lakota prophecy foretells a black snake that comes onto their land causing destruction. They believe that the Dakota Access Pipeline is that black snake. It is shown chopped up into many pieces because that is what they want to do to the pipeline, not just cut it off at one spot, but enough spots to make it impossible to be established. I think this piece speaks to a greater environmental justice issue. It says “that doesn’t mean put it five miles up the river, that means kill it dead.” This speaks to common issues with environmental justice concerns, where they will act like they are fixing the issue when in reality they are not truly addressing the issue at hand. In this case, they want to not just move the pipeline a little bit, they want to completely stop it. Label by Riley Kelley