Indian Land (2011)

Jesus Barraza and NancyPilli
28″ x 40″
1 – Color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Thick Archival Paper, Printed in Oakland, 2011
The Indian Land poster was created in 2004 with Nancy Hernandez, we were brainstorming ways in which we could fundraise for Peace and Dignity Journey’s and we decided to make some t-shirts and posters we could donate. Our goal was to create something that reflected Peace and Dignity Journey’s and their spiritual run across the continent, along with the history of Alcatraz and the sign that reads “You are on Indian Land” as one arrives on the island. Through this fusion of ideas the Indian land image was created.

The idea was to make t-shirts then with left over ink we printed some poster and we took them to the Sun Rise Ceremony on Indigenous People’s Day and gave them to youth from the organization Tojil which was organizing the fundraiser. They sold them and raised over $400. Since 2004 I have produced over 2,000 Indian Land posters that have been used as fundraisers, made at screen-printing workshops, gallery print demonstrations and giving them away for free.

In 2011 the piece was part of the “Counting Coup” exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The museum printed 1,000 offset posters that were placed in the gallery and given away free of charge to visitors. That same year I also printed 250 posters that were given away at the Indigenous People’s Day sunrise ceremony at Alcatraz. I hope that through putting these posters in the world it serves as an affirmation that as Indigenous people we will always be on the land of our ancestors.