Indigenous Land…From the River to the Sea (2020)

Jesus Barraza
22 x 35 inches
1 – Color, Hand made screen-print, Mohawk Archival Paper, Printed in Oakland, 2020

In November I traveled to Palestine, participating in the #WorldWithoutWalls delegation led by US Campaign for Palestinian Rights along with a group of Black & Brown movement organizers there to witness life on unceded Palestinian land. I looked for similarities in the issues and struggles people faced, considering how Indigenous people of the Americas and Palestinians face similar struggles, haunted by a history of colonialism which limits the ability to live on their ancestral land. In the Americas, after 518 years of colonial occupation we still recognize our ancestral ties to the land and know that no matter what colonial nation exists on it, it will always be Indigenous land. I found something similar in Palestine, people are fighting for the right to return to their homes, many of which have been occupied by Israeli settlers or destroyed. I was inspired to reflect this spirit of resistance I found there, making something that looks beyond colonial maps showing Gaza and the West Bank as the walled off remnants of what once was. Inspired by the “Indian Land” piece I created with Nancy Hernandez, I designed a poster showing the full map of Palestine with the slogan “From the River to the Sea” in Arabic with Spanish and English translations. In the translations I modified the text to make the point clear, that Palestinians are the Indigenous people of the land represented in the map. The image seeks to affirm a Palestinian right to the land that precede 1948, reminding us that before the NAKBA this was Indigenous Palestinian land and always will be. My hope here is to express solidarity, showing how important it is for Palestininas and Indigenous People to claim their ancestral land and demand the right to return home. Please share widely. #XicanxPalestinianSolidarity #vivapalestinalibre #freepalestine