Vivxs Nos Queremos (2018)

Melanie Cervantes
3- 12″ x 12″ digital print triptych, Full color giclée print with white border, 100% cotton rag, 260gsm Archival Velvet Fine Art Paper, April 2018

Vivxs Nos Queremos is an indictment of repressive & violent assassinations of Black and Indigenous women throughout Turtle Island/ Latin America. The triptych is a call and response statin the names of Berta Cáceres and Marielle Franco as PRESENTE!

Berta Cáceres
“Our Mother Earth, militarized, fenced-in, poisoned, a place where basic rights are systematically violated, demands that we take action. Let us build societies that are able to coexist in a dignified way, in a way that protects life. Let us come together and remain hopeful as we defend and care for the blood of this Earth and of its spirits.”-Berta Cáceres “Honduran indigenous and environmental organizer Berta Cáceres has been assassinated in her home in Honduras. She was one of the leading organizers for indigenous land rights in Honduras. In 1993, she co-founded the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, or COPINH. For years, the group faced death threats and repression as they stood up to mining and dam projects that threatened to destroy their community. Last year, Cáceres won the Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s leading environmental award.” (“Remembering Berta Cáceres, Assassinated Honduras Indigenous & Environmental Leader,” Democracy Now, March 4, 2016)

Marielle Franco
Thousands of people all over the world are mourning the death of Brazilian councilwoman Marielle Franco who was assassinated along with her driver Anderson Pedro Gomes after returning from an event focused on empowering young black women. Marielle a queer black Brazillian was a popular local LGBTQ and human rights activist who grew up in one of Rio’s largest favelas, and rose to political prominence by denouncing economic inequality and police brutality. “Just days before her death, she made a formal complaint against the police officers of the 41st BPM (Military Police Battalion) of Acari, a neighborhood in northern Rio, after they threatened the area’s residents and were suspected of shooting two young men and dumping their bodies in an open sewer. It was the beginning of Franco’s tenure as inspector of the federal military intervention in Rio, which she had actively spoken out against.”