The Diné and Totonac artist behind the Protect the Vote campaign art talks about a lesson from Standing Rock, the skepticism many Native people feel about voting, and why his work is so powerful in this moment.
Lehi Thunder Voice Eagle’s art has traveled from the frontlines at Standing Rock to murals in Venice Beach, to Santa Fe gallery walls to the apparel line he now runs with his family in Long Beach. Today, we are thrilled to launch Native Civic Power Initiative’s collaboration with Thunder Voice Eagle where two of his works will bring to life the Protect the Vote sharable, non-partisan campaign.
Today, we’re thrilled to launch his Frontlines: Guardians of Generations work in our Register to Vote Native Voter toolkit.
Lehi Thunder Voice Eagle spoke with Dawn Knickerbocker (Anishinaabe / White Earth Nation), NCPI’s project director, and Temryss Lane (Lummi Nation), an executive communications strategist designing the campaign and leading messaging for Native Vote nationally. Lane and Thunder Voice Eagle first met during the Standing Rock era, in a recording studio where the song “Stand n’ Rock” was being recorded, and have been close family-connected friends since.
This conversation was written from memory, edited, and condensed
Knickerbocker: Before the art, there was the land. Where did you start?
Thunder Voice Eagle: With my dad. He ran a wilderness program for youth, and I worked with him. We took young people out for fifty days at a time, with no cabins, no roads, no houses. We taught these young people how to live from the land, bringing in our traditional principles. For the last three days, their parents joined them, and families had time together for a new beginning.Then art took me into the inter-tribal Native world, where I met other communities and other tribes…
Lane: And then Standing Rock. Thousands of water protectors from hundreds of Tribal Nations came to stand with the Standing Rock people. That’s where you and I met. What brought you there?
Thunder Voice Eagle: I was led there through a series of events. Before I knew it, we were on the front lines, painting murals and making art in hopes of reaching further out. We connected with so many incredible people who inspired the need for interconnected creativity and art. After that I started a gallery, then an apparel brand. Now, it’s a family business. My brothers and sisters help with a lot of it, so I can’t take all the credit.
Knickerbocker: You’ve told me a story from Standing Rock that changed how you see organizing. Will you tell it here?
Thunder Voice Eagle: When I got there, there was a lot of confusion–different camps, different ideas every day wondering what we were going to do. A friend from Hawaii asked if I could pick up her auntie from the airport. It was Auntie Pua who stood for Mauna Kea. I was so excited. On the drive I asked her what she thought of it all. She said, “This is amazing. This is so well organized.” I said, “It is?!” [chuckles] and I started listing everything I’d heard. “What about this camp, what about that one?”
Auntie Pua told me those were pieces of it–we need the young people, the more abrasive ones taking their own actions, as much as we need the Elders telling them there must be peace. We need spaces for prayer. We need people working on the tangible things that move us in the right direction. No one has the answers. We’re all figuring it out as we go, and each piece pushes us one step forward each day.
Lane: How does that connect to voting?
Thunder Voice Eagle: Years later, we have an opportunity to vote and be part of this democracy. After all, democracy is Indigenous. We ask, what does that look like, and how do we protect it? It’s as important as the person on the frontline marching and carrying the banner. It’s a different space, and it’s all the same piece. That’s what she told me. It’s all the same piece.
Lane: When we talk about civic engagement, a lot of our people tune out. When we talk about their water, their clean air, the things that matter to their families, they lean in. Where does the skepticism come from, in your experience?
Thunder Voice Eagle: A lot of Native people are hesitant about voting because of the system, and I understand that perspective completely. My wife and I talk about it all the time. I’ve been on the fence too. But parts of this system, even some of what was drawn from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy when the U.S. government was built, have real validity for us as a community. It’s amazing we’ve come this far, as messy as humans are. And we’ve seen the other side.
We’ve seen our own people elected to higher positions.
On a local level, you can have real impact. When we show up to vote, we create space for the next generation. If we stop, our voice gets stifled again, and the next generation has to push all over again.
Knickerbocker: When I speak to funders, many of them are watching democracy come apart and don’t know what to do. My answer is that this is a problem of governance. Voting is about who gets to decide where the money goes, what happens to the land, and the policies that shape grocery and gas prices.
Native communities know how to show up when it matters.
Thunder Voice Eagle: That’s exactly it.
Lane: Walk us through the images.
Thunder Voice Eagle: The mother and child comes from imagery from the frontlines at Standing Rock where mothers stood strong, even marching with their children on their backs. The little wolf pup shows the connection between all of us, the two-legged, the four-legged, Mother Earth and all Creation. The burning sage surrounds them, representing our connection to the Creator. There’s a greater power we’re tied into as we move forward with spiritual protection.
On the frontlines, women, children and elders were all treated the same. They were taken down and sprayed, and they kept standing their ground. That’s in these images too.
Knickerbocker: Why art, at this moment?
Thunder Voice Eagle: Art is a powerful way of saying a lot without saying anything. When people are drawn to it, it opens them up to the message. I try to build my work so you can feel it. Even if you don’t understand it completely, you’re moved by something, the colors or the imagery. Art reaches people who can’t be reached through words.
Lane: Your brand is known for how things are made, not only what’s printed on them.
Thunder Voice Eagle: Our family looks at the lineage of everything we create. We make clothing to be passed down to the next generation, and our hope is at least two generations. Our T-shirts use a stronger, thicker weave and 100 percent cotton from the right places, so it isn’t tied to genocide. We look at where the ink comes from for posters, and whether the people printing the work earn a living wage. Are we adding to the harm, or supporting people and shared success? Everything that comes from us should carry that message, whether people know it or not.
Even our Native camo was inspired from the frontlines. I kept asking what would be most valuable for our people there. The ability to disappear into the bush and still wear your messaging, hats that protect your face from the spray, a jacket with pockets for pads, modeled on the motorcycle jackets we grew up with. The idea was protection while we pushed things forward.
Knickerbocker: They say buy it nice or buy it twice! We deserve high quality work in Indian Country, and I’ve been a huge fan of the care you put into your work for many years.
Thunder Voice Eagle: I hadn’t heard that, but I like it.
Lane: Tribal Nations and Native organizations can now download the campaign art from the Native Power Resources Hub. What do you hope they do with it?
Thunder Voice Eagle: Put it where our people are. Posters, newsletters, social media, events. People hold off until it feels like everybody’s doing it, and then it gives them permission to be part of it. So let’s make it feel like a group effort. Whatever you bring, bring it. We’re putting in effort on all fronts to change things for the next generation; from the frontlines to the polls our voice will be heard.
Official Protect The Vote merchandise from Thunder Voice Co. is coming soon.