Jacob Johns

Tribe: Hopi
Based In: Spokane, WA
Website: backbonecampaign.org/jacob

About the Art
Free the Snake River is a 12 x 4 foot banner that says WATER IS LIFE. Within the abstracted composition, a salmon motif is repeated, with embedded words such as “JUSTICE,” “ALIVE,” “CHOKE.” The banner speaks to the fight to free the Snake River (a major river spanning the Pacific Northwest), where many dams threaten the habitats of salmon and orcas. The Southern Resident orca pod, local to the Salish Sea, is critically endangered and other orca pods are extinct.

(text by Ellie DiCola)