Untitled (Colonizers, 2015)

Melanie Cervantes
38″ x 44″
Full color giclée print with white border, 100% cotton rag, Archival Fine Art Paper, 2015

I created this piece in 2015 for an exhibit at the Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco called “Bones of Our Ancestors.”

This piece is an indictment of the Vatican and the the Catholic Church for its ongoing role in colonialism and genocide in the Americas and the world. In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued to King Alfonso V of Portugal the papal bull Romanus Pontifex, declaring war against all non-Christians throughout the world, and specifically sanctioning and promoting the conquest, colonization, and exploitation of non-Christian nations and their territories. So fuck Cristobal Colon and Junipero Serra, the agents of empire, domination and progenitors of the genocide and suffering of indigenous peoples on this continent and the Caribbean islands. Fuck James Cook too.