Brown and Proud, Todos Somos Arizona (2011)

Melanie Cervantes
17.5″ x 23″
1 – Color Split Fountain (Blend), Handprinted, Screenprint, Mohawk Birch Archival Paper, Printed in Oakland, 2011

Back by popular demand! We have created a new edition of Brown and Proud posters.

This print was created in response to Arizona passing SB 1070 into law. The law will allow local “law enforcement” legally use racial profiling to harrass anyone they respect “who is an alien and who is unlawfully present in the U.S.”

In order to create a message of cultural affirmation and pride, in a climate where being brown means you are a target of suspicion and abuse, I created this design using the slogan Brown and Proud. The illustration I created of my the main character in my  poster is a portrait of a young Xicana from Oakland named Leslie. I also wanted to use a stylized butterfly that is based on glyphs found in Azcapotzalco an area of what is now Mexico City.  I used the butterflies to symbolize how migration is reflected in the natural world.

All the proceeds from the sale of the “Brown and Proud” prints will go to creating materials and sending them to Arizona for the National  Day of Action Against SB1070.