Recent Work: Standing in Standing Rock :Scenes from the Encampment

The Standing Rock Lakota nation has orchestrated what has become a massive encampment with the aim of blocking and ultimately stopping construction of the North Dakota Access Pipeline ( NoDAPL). The camp, which started out on reservation land, has now grown into multiple camps spilling out from the reservation onto adjoining land along the Cannonball river.  

When I arrived the size of the main camp was beteeen 2,000 and 3,000, growing to close to 7,000 over the weekend and contracting back down to around 2,000 - 3,000 by the time I left. The camp seems to swell and contract like a heartbeat.  

An act of environmental activism, led by Native Americans and guided and governed by Native American principles of nonviolence and spirituality has resonnated with people everywhere and they are coming to Standing Rock. And along the way it has energized a unity movement within the Native American cultures of historic proportions. Flags from over 280 tribes and first nations fly throughout the camp. Each one representing a tribe or first nation that have come to the camp in solidarity and joined the Standing Rock Lakota people in opposing the pipeline construction. Living in the camp is a hardship but I found much beauty there. And the light...