Isaac Murdoch, Anishinaabe (Ojibway)
Water is Life, 2016
Murdoch’s print is most commonly seen held in the hands of activists protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, which could leak and pose a severe threat to the communities that depend on the water, particularly indigenous communities. The print contains imagery of the Thunderbird Woman, which is a prominent figure in oral histories of many different Native American traditions. The one pop of color in the piece is a red heart on the Thunderbird Woman’s chest, seemingly representing that the core of this issue is about protecting the livelihoods of their community—put simply, “Water Is Life,” which is displayed in bold. Label by Courtney Hand