This painting is about Standing Rock, which became a rallying point for both environmental and indigenous civil-rights advocates as thousands of people, gathered on the Standing Rock reservation to protest and physically obstruct the Keystone pipeline’s construction.

A focus of the protest was about the impact of oil spills from this pipeline (owned by a company that has a notorious reputation for spills and leaks) and what those spills might do to the water aquifer, water of the nearby river, the fish that live in it, and the wildlife that are sustained by it. All those things are critical to the people of the Sioux tribe, and others living in the area.

In a larger sense, this protest was about the rights and safety of the people often being trumped by corporate interest and power. As these pipelines traverse the breadth of our country, through our Heartland, our bread belt, and over one of the nation's largest fresh water aquifers; many of us are also at risk, not just the Sioux Nation.

On 11-16-17  TransCanada reported that 210,000 gallons of oil had spilled from the Keystone Pipeline near Amhearst, SD. It was the third major spill in the region for the pipeline which became operational in 2010, just 7 years earlier.

"Water is Life" is on loan to the Great Falls Public School System and is displayed in the Native American studies department.

#standingrock  #waterislife  #transcanada #keystonepipeline