Artists Stood with Standing Rock On Thanksgiving
India Menuez, Marcel Dzama, and Hank Willis Thomas all interrupted the food porn on Instagram with posts about the crisis in North Dakota.
As Mariah Carey rolled up to Whole Foods in Hawaii, Bella Hadid baked pies, and millions more Americans prepared to feast in honor of Thanksgiving on Thursday, the likes of Janelle Monae and Grimes opted not to fill your feeds with even more food porn, but to remind their followers that this particular holiday is more a national day of mourning for many Native Americans. That distinction has been especially clear this year, given the violent turn the protests at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota have taken recently, when police treated some of the thousands who’ve made their way to camp out peacefully there since April to a barrage of tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons in below-freezing temperatures that injured dozens just this week.
At stake is a multi-billion-dollar, 1,100-mile long pipeline that would stretch from North Dakota to Illinois, not just breaking Native American land treaties, but likely causing even more destruction by opening the door for fracking and endangering the drinking water source for both the Sioux and the 8 million others living downstream of the Missouri River. No stranger to political statements as of late, the art world took the opportunity to shed light on the cause on Thanksgiving Day.
Shepard Fairey
Rob Kulisek
Claire Christerson
