Melanie's Posters and Graphics

Melanie Cervantes
20" x 26"
2-Color, Handprinted, Screenprint,Archival Acid Free New Leaf Heavyweight Matte paper , Printed in Oakland, CA 2009

A solidarity piece with the young Palestinian children who must use slingshots to defend their lives and their from the Israeli tanks, “Apache” helicopters and machine gun toting soliders who continue to invade, “settle” and colonize Palestine.
$45

Melanie Cervantes
20” x 26”
2-color screen print, New Leaf Archival Paper, Printed in Oakland, 2010
 

This is one of the pieces that I developed for a trip to Ecatepec, Mexico in order to connect the struggles of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas who identify politically as Zapatistas with the Indigenous African/Sudanese people who are struggling to survive in Darfur. Global neoliberal policies and practices of predatory planning and development play a role in these genocides ,not only displacement of Indigenous peoples, but perceiv them as less worthy than other human beings, as expendable.

Melanie Cervantes
20” x 26”
2-color screen print, New Leaf Archival Paper, Printed in Oakland, 2008
 

This is one of the pieces that I developed for a trip to Ecatepec, Mexico. Prior to our 15 artist cohort from the U.S. arriving in Ecatepec we talked about the issues that were most pressing in the communities which we would be visiting. The access to water and the threat of privitization of water are huge issues in Ecatepec, as they are increasingly worldwide. The poster was well received and resonated with many of the peple we met there. We wheatpasted them in publicsquares in the streets, put them up in exhibits in community centers and gave them away. 

Melanie Cervantes
20" x 26"
6-Color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Archival Fabriano Accademia, Printed in Oakland, CA 2008

The concept for this piece was to capture movement building and communities living their traditional cultures as a form self-affirmation and resistance to racism.
$75

Melanie Cervantes
12" x 12"
2-Color, Handprinted, Screen print,New Leaf Archival Paper, Printed in Oakland, CA 2008

This print was made for the Justseeds Portfolio Project 2008, "Voices from Outside: Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex."

In honor of Critical Resistance's 10 Year Anniversary, Justseeds created a limited edition portfolio of original prints that either critiqued the prison industrial complex or addressed alternatives to incarceration. Twenty one artists from the US, Canada, and Mexico contributed prints.

Melanie Cervantes
20" x 26"
4-Color, Handprinted, Archival Lenox Paper, Printed in Oakland, CA 2008

This piece is in solidarity with the indigenous people of San Salvador Atenco, in Mexico  who are farmers by tradition and have resisted  efforts by the State and corporations to   build a Wal-Mart, to build a major airport and to seize land.  Their resistance has been met by systemic rape, people being disappeared and the taking of political prisoners.
$50  

Melanie Cervantes
20" x 26"
3-Color, Handprinted, Archival Lenox Paper, Printed in  Oakland, CA 2008

The Brown Berets are a Xicana/o community defense committee for many barrios. A portion of thie edition will be dontated to Watsonville chapter of the Brown Berets.
$50

Melanie Cervantes
20" X 26"
6-Color, Handprinted, Screenprint,Archival Acid Free New Leaf Heavyweight Matte paper , Printed in Oakland, CA 2009

A solidarity piece with the young Palestinian children who must use slingshots to defend their lives and their from the Israeli tanks, “Apache” helicopters and machine gun toting soliders who
continue to invade, “settle” and colonize Palestine.
$45

Melanie Cervantes
20" x 27"
4-Color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Archival Lenox paper, Printed in Oakland, CA 2008

Días de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a holiday that focuses on gatherings of people to remember friends and relatives who have died. The celebration occurs on the 1st and 2nd of November. Scholars trace the origins of the modern holiday to indigenous observances dating back thousands of years to a Mexica (Aztec) festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl (known in English as “The Lady of the Dead”).In 2008 I decided to make an ofrenda (spiritual offering) on Dia de Los Muertos to all the people who have been killed in the recent wars. It is important to me that people realize that not only are women and children are being killed but that the soldiers of war are also dying all for the benifit of a few war profiteers. It saddens me that as the economy worsens, military recruiting strengthens.
$40 

Melanie Cervantes
20" x 26"
10- Color, Handprinted, Archival Lenox Paper, Printed in Oakland, CA 2009

As individuals, as organizations, as communities- we indigenous women continually prove our strength in the face of threat and adversity. Our responses show that we are not passive victims of oppression but fierce agents in our peoples struggle for survival. We form organizations and networks and community-based projects to respond to the basic needs of our people. We are at the forefront of the actions of our people to defend our land, our lives and our livelihood.

$75

Melanie Cervantes
11" x 17"
3-Color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Strathmore 300 Series Bristol, Printed in Oakland, CA 2005

This is my very first screen print! After years and years of admiring Chicana/o screen printers like Rupert Garcia and Ester Hernandez I decided I wanted to learn how to screen print. A very good friend of mine and I enrolled in a seven hours long screen printing class at Laney College in Oakland.

I knew i wanted to design a piece that would honor the life of Chicana-Tejana-Lesbian-Dyke extraordinate Gloria Anzaldua for my first piece. She helped make visible the literature and writing of women of color and the US. She was the co-editor of the book This Bridge Called my Back and is best known for her book Borderlands/La Frontera. She made major contributions to Chicana feminist and queer theory and was a huge inspiration to me. She died in the summer 2004 at her home in Santa Cruz and I wanted to do something to honor all she contributed to the world during her life. 

This is one of four posters I created based on illustrations I made for the forthcoming book, from Microcosm Publishing, Firebrands: Portraits from the Americas. This is a project that members, I among them, from Justseeds Cooperative all contributed to.

"We need the strong medicine of our foremothers to make us well again. We need their medicines to give us strength to fight and the drive to win.” –Assata

On May 2 1973, activist Assata Shakur, was pulled over by the New Jersey State Police, shot twice and then unjustly charged with murder of a police officer. Assata spent six and a half years in prison under brutal circumstances before escaping out of the maximum security wing of the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey in 1979 and moving to Cuba in exile.

Assata Shakur has been living in Cuba since 1986, after escaping from prison where she was serving a life sentence imposed in a highly disputed trial. Assata was a Black Panther then a Black Liberation Army (BLA) leader in the early '70s, so she was a target of the FBI's COINTELPRO operation.

"Assata Shakur is a Black American folk hero. She is a freedom fighter that escaped the chains of oppression. She made it to the other side. She is a sister that defied the definitions of expected behavior by a Black woman."

Melanie Cervantes
11” x .17"
Offset, Printed in oakland, CA  2009

This is the 2009 San Francisco Dyke march poster design that I created. Since I met Ani Rivera, my contact for the Dyke March committee, a few years ago,  I wanted to do the design.She was a pleasure tot work with and I am really happy about being able to visually interpret this year's theme: Dyke Rights = Human Rights, Human Rights = Dyke Rights. The best part of the experience was one day when I sent a version of the poster for feed back and I could hear all the women in the background jubilantly yelling "make her fat, make her old, make her a leather butch!"Never had I heard women embrace aspects of a woman that mainstream  society marginalizes so happily.  It was the best feedback session I ever had.  

The 17th Annual San Francisco Dyke March 2009
Saturday, June 27th, 2009

Starting from Dolores Park, at 18th and Dolores
Rally and Stage Begins @ 3:00 p.m.
March Takes Off @ 7:00 p.m.

Dyke Rights = Human Rights

Human Rights = Dyke Rights


"At the San Francisco Dyke March, we gather to experience and celebrate our collected energies, to acknowledge our many communities, to learn from our incredible diversity, to respect each other, and to create new ways to share our resources. We have pride for good reason: Dykes participate in every aspect of political, social and artistic institutions, illuminating issues of social justice wherever we are. . . "

Melanie Cervantes
21.5” x .33.5"
Offset, Printed in Mexico City, CA  2008

Lesbian, Gay, and Queer familles are impacted not only by racially discriminatory immigration laws but by heterosexist reunification laws that keep bi-national partners and their children from being together. This print honors those struggling famililies for whom this is their reality.

One of a few small format prints celebrating the solidarity between indigenous land-rights struggles throughout the world.

This is a small piece based in an illustration I created for a larger screenprint of a Palestian family, in the US, marching together. 

This is a small piece based in an illustration I created for a larger screenprint of a three young boys in Palestine with the keys that are symbols of the right to return. The term right of return refers to a principle of international law, codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, giving any person the right to return and re-enter his country of origin. 

Melanie Cervantes
17" x 22"
Giclee, Matte Heavyweight Paper, Printed in San Leandro, CA 2008

This piece honors our grandmothers' role in our lives as young women. The sacred and the meaningful happen in moments with our grandmothers. This piece was created for Mother’s Day 2008.

This is one of the pieces that I developed for a trip to Ecatepec, Mexico in order to connect the struggles of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, who identify politically as Zapatistas, with the Indigenous African/Sudanese people who are struggling to survive in Darfur. Global neoliberal policies and practices of predatory planning and development play a role in these genocidal policies and not only displace Indigenous peoples but treat them as expendable and whose lives are worth less  than other human beings.

Melanie Cervantes
20" x 26"
10- Color, Handprinted, Archival Lenox Paper, Printed in Oakland CA 2009

As individuals, as organizations, as communities or as a people, indigenous women continually prove their strength in the face of threat and adversity. Our responses show that we are not passive victims of oppression but fierce actors in the indigenous peoples’ struggles for survival. We have formed organizations and networks. They have initiated community-based projects to respond to  basic needs of our people.We have been in the forefront of numerous actions of indigenous peoples to defend our land, our lives and our  livelihood.
$75

Melanie Cervantes
22" x 30"
6-Color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Archival Lenox paper, Printed in Oakland, CA 2009

This print features a Zapastisa woman who is breastfeeding for the well-being of her child, as an exercise of her rights and a demonstration of her rights.
$65  

Melanie Cervantes
20" x 26"
1- Color, Handprinted, Matter Paper, Printed in Oakland CA 2009

This print is created to celebrate the victory that many Salvadorenos has been wishing for..

"For the first time, the left  govern El Salvador. In the March 15, 2009 presidential elections, Mauricio Funes of the former guerrilla movement the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) defeated former police director Rodrigo Ávila of the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) by a thin margin of less than three percentage points.

This victory brings an end to 20 years of ARENA rule, and almost two centuries of right-wing domination of El Salvador. Popular movements entered the elections with high expectations, and ecstatically greeted Funes’ victory with fireworks and dancing in the streets late into the night.

After decades of electoral losses and neoliberal governments, leftist organizations had lost some of the initiative that brought them to the verge in the 1980s of bringing down the conservative regime that ruled this small Central American country."

$20

Melanie Cervantes
20" x 26"
5-Color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Archival Coventry Rag Paper, Printed Self Help Graphics 2009

I created this portrait of Rigoberta Menchú Tum, a Quiche-Maya from Guatemala in order to raise awarness of this amazing woman who has helped call attention to the genocidal policies being carried out against indigenous people in her country. In 1991, Menchú participated in the ongoing
preparation by the United Nations of its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which was recently ratified. Menchu was the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in recognition of her
social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation work based on respect for the rights of indigenous people.This print was created as part of an atelier that Yo! What Happeed to Peace's John Carr coordinated with East L.A. Self-Help Graphics. I was fortunate to be able to work with master prints Jose Alpucheand his assitant and son Josue. It was a great experience.

$100

A small form print featuring the portrait of a Chicana Brown Beret.  The Brown Berets are a Xicana/o community defense committee for many barrios including East L.A. and Watsonville.

One of a few small format prints celebrating the solidarity between indigenous land-rights struggles throughout the world.

The Center For Young Women's Development in San Francisco asked me to partner with them to create a poster and postcards to popularize the Young Mother's Bill of Rights. The Center was integral to creating the Bill of Rights through a campaign they won. San Francisco Juvenile Hall has accepted and agreed to implement the Center’s ten-point Young Mother’s Bill of Rights, which sets forth the rights of pregnant and parenting young woman and young fathers who are locked in juvenile hall. They wanted young men and women to know their rights as parents and felt that a compelling graphic would help grab the attention of the young people in lockup so we made a few hundred posters and thousands of postcards to give out to the young people.

The Center for Young Women's Development was founded in 1993 by a coalition of service providers working with young and adult women in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. The guiding principle then and now for the organization is  that young women are the experts on issues impacting their lives and they should be involved in running and directing the programs that serve them. In 1997 their founding director, the brilliant and talented Lateefah Simon,  left and young women of color under age 26 assumed all leadership responsibility. Building on a model for self-determination, they began to organize to change the power dynamic in San Francisco itself.

Melanie Cervantes
11" x 15"
7-Color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Archival Lenox Paper, Printed in Oakland, 2010

This is a print called América Con Acento (inspired by Xerí Moraga and Los Tigres del Norte) for a portfolio on Immigration that the Consejo Grafico is organzing. I wanted to address my position on migration through this print. The popular ways migration is framed in the media and popular discourse contetualizes the movement of people across land in relation to the nation state and people's status. I believe in the human rights and particularly reference the International Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples abd firmly believe that people who are displaced by international policies like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the countries that enter into the agreements fail to take responsibilty for the massive disruption of local economies in places like rural Mexico. I believe that migration is a human right and wanted to use popular artists, Los Tigres, and their lyrics to illustrate this idea. I also name my print after a line from Cherrie (Xeri) Moraga's writings on as a nod to her influence on my thinking.

If you would like to see the entire portfolio of prints check out  Consejo Grafico.

Melanie Cervantes
20" x 26"
5-Color, Handprinted, Screenprint Print, Archival Lenox 100 Paper, Printed in Oakland, CA  2008

My last year in college at UC Berkeley I lived with five roomates in a three bedroom apartment. Just about every day and every night I could be sure to come home to hear bass thumping, music vibrating the whole house:

“Cops give a damn about a negro…
give 'em guns step back watch 'em kill each other
It's time to fight back that's what Huey said
2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead
I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other
We gotta start makin' changes”

Two of  my roommates-- Victor and Augustin absolutely love Tupac. They were and are fierce community organizers.  Working in communities like the Fruitvale in Oakland and in Boston they reach out to young people and help the young people be vibrant and amazing leaders in those communities. Tupac, his ideas, his poetry and his music are an inspiration and continue to be used as tools in this organizing.  My roomates helped me realize why young people connect so deeply to Tupac and the stories he tells through his art.

Many times people ask why our studio is called Taller Tupac Amaru. Those unfamiliar with the indigenous leader from Peru, who led an uprising against colonizer Spain, assume we named it after this poet and musician. Many people don’t realize that 2Pac/Tupac Amaru Shakur’s mother, Afeni Shakur, was an active Black Panther in New York for over two decades and that the name she gave her son is no coincidence but an homage to the revolutionary Peruvian.  The print includes lyrics from one of 2Pac’s early recorded  song’s “Panther Power” which tells the story of the political home his family had with the Black Panthers.

I designed this print to help to tell this story visually. I will distribute some of the prints to the people that see how 2Pac’s lyrics and music reach young people. The will land in the hands of my friends, who teach, who organize and who help young people be our communities’ leaders by being grounded in our peoples histories of struggle.

$40

Melanie Cervantes
26" x 36"
9 - Color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Cougar Archival Paper, Printed in Oakland, 2010

Lesbian, Gay, and Queer familles are impacted not only by racially discriminatory immigration laws but by heterosexist reunification laws that keep bi-national partners and their children from being
together. This print honors those struggling famililies who suffer becauseof these double oppressions.

$100

Melanie Cervantes
20x26
5 - Color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Cougar Archival Paper, Printed in Oakland, 2010

This is the first of a series I will be doing about occupied islands.

$40

Melanie Cervantes
20" x 26"
2 - Color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Cougar Double Thick, Printed in Oakland, 2010

I created this print to show my solidarity with the Iranian people in their struggle for freedom and democracy. It features a portrait of a woman juxtaposed against a traditional Persian pattern.
$20

Melanie Cervantes
Digital Graphic, 2009

Alex Sanchez is an internationally recognized peacemaker and co-founder of Homies Unidos in Los Angeles where he has developed and implemented innovative violence prevention and intervention programs since 1998 and has also lead the organization as Executive Director since 2006.

On June 24, 2009, internationally recognized community leader, and peacemaker Alex Sanchez was named in a federal indictment, charging him among a group of twenty-three others with being an active member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang. 

This is a graphic I created in solidarity with Alex and the We Are Alex Campaign.

Alex has been locked up since June 24th and was denied bail twice.  Although the defense and prosecution agreed upon a closed hearing and we do not know who came forward to testify regarding their knowledge of Alex’s character, we do know that the truth prevailed. With this outcome, more people will become aware of Alex’s case and know that Alex is not considered a danger to the community or a flight risk – something we have known all along. Bail has been set at $2 million (1 million in property and 1 million in sureties).

Alex must now face a long trial towards freedom, but the granting of bail is a welcomed step towards the hope of a fairer process. We hope to take the momentum of this small victory to continue to make our neighbors, friends and families aware of Alex's plight for a fair trial. 

Melanie Cervantes
11” x 17”
Digital Print, Printed in Oakland, CA 2010

I created this piece as a fundraiser for La RED Xicana Indígena.La RED Xicana Indígena, which originated in 1997, is a network of Xicanas Indígenas who are actively involved in political, educational and cultural work that serves to raise indigenous consciousness among our communities and supports the social justice struggles of people of indigenous origins of this continent North and South, especially the human and civil rights campaign of undocumented migrant peoples and their children in the U.S.

The Night of Queer Women of Color Performance featured my friend Cherrie Moraga, the hilarious Adelina Anthony, the super talented La Bomberas de la Bahia  and SoliRose.

Melanie Cervantes
8" x 10" linocut

20" x 26" 1 - Color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Cougar Double Thick, Printed in Oakland, 2010

"El Niño Zapatista" is my first linoleum cut.Reading about Mexico's foremost political printshop, Taller de Grafica Popular (Spanish: "People's Graphic Workshop") was a artist's print collective founded in Mexico in 1937 by artists Leopoldo Méndez, Pablo O'Higgins, and Luis Arenal. The collective was primarily concerned with using art to advance revolutionary social causes. The print shop became a base of political activity and abundant artistic output, and attracted many artists from outside of Mexico as collaborators.

Many of the artists in TGP created political posters and used linocuts as a way to create print multiples. The artist whose skill inspired me most is Leopoldo Mendez. Mendez used tools meant for engraving for linocuts and was a master at his art. 

I chose to create a portrait of a young boy from a Zapatisa community.

In 1810 Mexico breaks from Spain declaring its Independence.
In 1910  Indigenas play major roles in Revolution against the established order in Mexico.
In 2010 ¡Zapata vive, vive, la lucha sigue, sigue!

Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary and guerrilla leader, has inspired many Xicana/os for taking a stand for land rights and to show how the people could defend themselves from the tyranny of corrupt governments. This portrait commemorates the role Zapata and his liberation army played in the revolution and the amazing Plan de Ayala which stated that the goal of the revolution was for land to be redistributed among the poor.

Buy a print by clicking here

In 1810 Mexico breaks from Spain declaring its Independence.
In 1910  Indigenas play major roles in Revolution against the established order in Mexico.
In 2010 ¡Zapata vive, vive, la lucha sigue, sigue!

Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary and guerrilla leader, has inspired many Xicana/os for taking a stand for land rights and to show how the people could defend themselves from the tyranny corrupt governments. This portrait commemorates the role Zapata and his liberation army played in the revolution and the amazing Plan de Ayala which stated that the goal of the revolution was for land to be redistributed among the poor.

Buy a print by clicking here

A portrait of my friends  at one of the annual Xicana Moratorium’s against the war in San Francisco. I wanted to capture the subtleties of each of their personalities as well as the collective beauty of the Baeza sisters. They are emblematic of  “the City” to me especially since they and their family showed me so much of  San Francisco with so much love and warmth since my arrival to the Bay from Los Angeles. They are my Mission Icons.

Buy a print by clicking here.

When I lived in LA after a my college campus event my friends and I would drive to East L.A. for Self Help Graphics annual celebration of Dia de los Muertos. There were always great musicians and tons of fun to be had. One year in particular, my last year in Los Angeles, the band Quetzal was performing as the headliner for the concert.

The lead singer, Martha Gonzales, was striking. She had half her face painted as a calaca to remind the audience death is the other side of life and that it is something we will all will eventually face.

This print is an homage to Martha. It is part of a series of prints that I am creating to honor the bad ass mujeres whose music consistently inspire me and influences my art.

You can purchase a print by clicking here

DOWNLOAD "Stop Re-Segregating Our Universities" Poster HERE

The people of Georgia are facing a flurry of regressive policies and an ever increasing anti-immigrant and racist climate. An organizer who follows Dignidad Rebelde sent me a message asking me if I could create a political graphic to help support some of the organizing students and community based organizations are engaging in.She knew HB 87 and HB 59 would be hitting the floor soon and was hoping we could aide in their efforts to mobilize and raise awareness about the issues. HB 87 is Georgia's version of SB 1070 so I repurposed a graphic I had originally designed for Arizona.Check it out HERE

28" x 36"

5 - color, Handprinted, Screenprint, Art Paper, Printed in Oakland, 2010

This is a large format art print version of the Brown and Proud poster that I created in reponse 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  posteris 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. The "Todos Somos Arizona" sub-slogan was influenced by the collectively focused Zapatista slogans such as Todos Somos Ramona. Our worldview is heavily influenced by the uprising of the Zapatistas social movement against the rise of Neo-liberal politics.

Order a print here

11" x 17" 
1-Color, Digital Print ,  Matte Cover Paper, Printed by Inkworks Press in Berkeley, CA  2011

Though many of the "show me your papers" bills, emulating Arizona's SB 1070,  that have popped up in states all over the country  are being killed before they make it to law there are still several states that could pass laws before the legislative sessions are over.  

Despite the fact that some states have defeated these proposals there are still states facing climates of hate and racism. This design is one I created with the input of leaders from a grassroots organization that works in Tucson, Arizona where their members are taking a stand and rejecting racist, unjust policies like SB1070 as well as HB2281 which bans ethnic studies being taught in public schools. 

There was such a positive response to this graphic that I decided to create a digital print of it and make the art available to more people. My hope is that it reflects a position that rejects all forms of racism and affirms the people who are racially profiled and who are the targets of these policies that are intent on dehumanizing us.

Order a print here

 20" x 26" 
1-Color, Handmade, Screen Print , Neenah Archival Paper, Printed in Oakland, CA  2011

A design I originally created as a downloadable poster. This print is designed in the tradition of OSPAAAL (Organization of Solidarity of the People of Asia, Africa & Latin America) a Cuban political movement with the stated purpose of fighting globalization, imperialism, neoliberalism and defending human rights. The have created a vault of political posters to support freedom fighting world wide and promoted Third World solidarity. I have a wonderful book called "the solidarity poster" that catalouges all of their works. I found a poster in that book from 1969 with the slogan "Victory Will Be Attained by the Peoples Who Struggle for their Liberation" in four languages. I decided to use the slogan verbatim and thought it worked well.

We printed about 120 posters and gave almost all of them away at a march in San Francisco. We kept a small stack to sell to help recooperate the cost of materials.We only have very limited quantities about 20 left!


Order a print here

Julieta’s voice first made it into my ears when she was a vocalist for Tijuana No!, a Mexican political punk-ska-rock band. Later in 1998 my sister enlisted the help of relatives in Mexico to get a copy of her first CD Aqui which hadn't yet been distributed in the U.S.  I loved her rock sound and would steal away with the CD, listening to her songs on repeat during my four mile walks to and from community college.

I continued to love her sound as it transformed from rock to pop because I could always listen to her previous albums and still enjoy the new music. The best memory I have of seeing Julieta play live was at an opening of the exhibit Lines of Sight: Views of the U.S./ Mexican Border at UC Riverside. Her twin sister Yvonne, who is a photographer, had work in the exhibit along with other phenomenal artists like Ricardo Duffy and Ruben Ortiz Torres. The event combined On a couple of songs her cousin played flute while she changed between acoustic guitar and accordion while her sister and mother sang along softly with her songs. It was fantastic.

The first time I saw Julieta play the accordion I was electrified. I had seen norteño-bands like Los Tigres Del Norte play before but this was the first time I witnessed a woman master the squeezebox and make it look like the coolest instrument in the world.

This piece joins the series of portraits of women musicians whose music moves me. The other prints feature Martha Gonzalez of Quetzal and Lila Downs.

Order print here

Enlace, in partnership with community groups and unions across the US, is calling on all public and private institutions to divest their holdings in Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group, America’s largest private prison corporations which have profited from billions in taxpayer money.

The major investors in the private prison industry include Pershing Square Capital Management, Wellington Management Company, Wells Fargo Bank, General Electric and others

At the time of this writing hedge fund manager, Bill Ackman, announced the divestment of Pershing Square Capital Management’s holdings in Corrections Corporation (CCA) of America, the nation’s largest private prison company.  Mr. Ackman and CCA filed a joint statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 16, 2011 confirming that Pershing Square no longer holds stock in CCA.  Pershing Square Capital Management divested over 7 million shares in CCA.

Read more about the campaign and how to get involved here: http://prisondivestment.wordpress.com/)

Enlace, in partnership with community groups and unions across the US, is calling on all public and private institutions to divest their holdings in Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group, America’s largest private prison corporations which have profited from billions in taxpayer money.

The major investors in the private prison industry include Pershing Square Capital Management, Wellington Management Company, Wells Fargo Bank, General Electric and others

At the time of this writing hedge fund manager, Bill Ackman, announced the divestment of Pershing Square Capital Management’s holdings in Corrections Corporation (CCA) of America, the nation’s largest private prison company.  Mr. Ackman and CCA filed a joint statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 16, 2011 confirming that Pershing Square no longer holds stock in CCA.  Pershing Square Capital Management divested over 7 million shares in CCA.

Read more about the campaign and how to get involved here: http://prisondivestment.wordpress.com/)

As of May 23, 2011, the U.S. government, during the Barak Obama administration,  has deported 1,026,517 immigrants since the beginning of fiscal year 2009.

http://www.ice.gov/doclib/about/offices/ero/pdf/ero-removals.pdf

President Obama wants to force police officers in every state to act like immigration officers. 

"After hitting a record 1 MILLION deportations, the Obama administration just did the unthinkable: Forcing states and police departments to comply with a controversial program called Secure Communities or S-Comm – a move guaranteed to deport many more millions of people.

S-Comm is a highly criticized federal program that is deporting immigrants who have done nothing wrong, encouraging racial profiling, devastating communities around the country, and making us all less safe. In fact, under S-Comm authorities can deport a woman reporting domestic violence, instead of protecting her.² Huge immigrant states like Illinois and New York opted out of the program because it breeds distrust of the police – and now President Obama is forcing them to comply."

This piece was created with the specific purpose of being a part of a traveling exhibit on the border and immigration. I was invited to submit anything I wanted-with any content to be part of the exhibit. Due to my use of the expletive "Fuck" it was rejected and I was asked to remove myself from the exhibit.I stood by the piece and lost relationships over it but felt that the great sense of anger and indignation were conveyed in the original design and that changing it would change the piece. I stood by it-right or wrong.

I felt that if people were more caught up with the use of the word "fuck" than the outrageous numbers of deportations, the amount of brutality inflicted on communities by vigilantes, police, and ICE, then it was more a matter of moral priorities. This is why I choose to name the piece "The Real Obscenity." 

References:

1.

President Obama: End S-Comm Now

http://presente.org/campaign/president-obama-end-s-comm-now/original_email/

2. “Domestic Violence Survivor Confronts Secure Communities Director, Deport Nation, 11/08/2010
http://www.deportationnation.org/2010/11/domestic-violence-survivor-confronts-secure-communities-director/

"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."-Martin Luther King, Jr., April 16, 1963, Letter From Birmingham City Jail

In a more recent communication a good friend, a freedom fighter wrote, via email, another poignant message: 

"I stand with all my brothers still on hunger strike inside the SHUs at Pelican Bay, Corcoran, and all the mainlines in Centinela, Folsom, and all other prisoners throughout California and the nation in solidarity with the hunger strike.  Imagine being caged up alone for 23 hours a day in a 6x10 concrete chamber….Imagine that the only human contact in the last 10, 15 years is that of guards putting shackles on you, or a vague recollection of someone who told you she was from the medical field…Imagine if you have not seen, or talked to another African-American person in months, years, or even decades.  These brothers are not asking to be released.  They are demanding their human rights.  They are demanding an end to torture."

He asked that I help spread the word about the indefinate hunger strike that started at Pelican Bay but which has spread to other prisons and folks inside and outside standing in solidarity with those in Pelican Bay. He inspired me to create a downloadable poster to spread the word.

Read more here

Vilma Espin Guillois Presente!

Most people know the names and faces Cuban revolutionaries Ernesto “Che”Guevara and Fidel Castro but I would bet if you ask these same people about the women who were instrumental in the Cuban Revolution they would respond with a blank stare. The leadership women provide to revolutionary movements is often invisiblized so I wanted to bring it to the surface. This portrait of Vilma Espin is the first, in what I hope are many, portraits of revolutionary women. 

Read more here

Glen Cove is a sacred gathering place and burial ground that has been utilized by numerous Native American tribes since at least 1,500 BC. Today, Glen Cove continues to be spiritually important to local Native communities. It is located just south of Vallejo, California along the Carquinez Strait, a natural channel that connects the Sacramento River Delta to the San Francisco Bay. Glen Cove is known as Sogorea Te in Karkin Ohlone language.

I created this graphic as a humble attempt to create a visual that captured the stories being told by organizers and elders. I wanted to depict ancestors presence on this sacred shellmound and did so by depicting Miwok and Ohlone men and women reflected in the clouds and in on the land. Many other California peoples have been present on this sacred land I want to acknowledge that as well. Ideally this could be a much larger piece that could reflect how important this site is to many, many, many peoples. 

Read more about the process here