Indigenous Women

Standing tall, head held high, her dignity on full display. That’s the image of an empowered indigenous woman confronting discrimination and violence, saying “enough is enough” to the tragic impact of extractive industries and other development projects in her ancestral territories. The play of shapes that combines an indigenous woman’s silhouette with mountains, lakes, trees, and moon/sun, along with the color palette of earth tones and greens, represents that close, harmonious relationship with her lands and the fundamental role this relationship has in shaping her identity. The figure on the cover symbolizes all the indigenous women of the Americas, while maintaining and valuing her individuality. She is one, yet at the same time all; her identity is what defines indigenous women collectively, that symbiotic relationship with Mother Earth. Her body morphs into the elements of her land because her identity is intimately tied to her ancestral territories. It is from that place, from that worldview, that the indigenous women of the Americas do battle against inequality, racism, sexism, and poverty.