Kendra Pinto, Protector, colored pencil and acrylic on paper, 46” x 40,” 2016.
From New Mexico Story Power, an online interview and portrait series featuring frontline advocates and activists in New Mexico, created in attempts to broaden the climate justice movement’s base and to raise public awareness of local threats from fracking. The interviews from this project have recently been archived on this site.
Miya King-Flaherty, Protector, colored pencil and acrylic on paper, 32” x 44”, 2017.
From New Mexico Story Power, an online interview and portrait series featuring frontline advocates and activists in New Mexico, created in attempts to broaden the climate justice movement’s base and to raise public awareness of local threats from fracking. The interviews from this project have recently been archived on this site.
To read the full interview with Miya King-Flaherty, click here.
Mike Eisenfeld, Protector, colored pencil and acrylic on paper, 38” x 32”, 2017.
From New Mexico Story Power, an online interview and portrait series featuring frontline advocates and activists in New Mexico, created in attempts to broaden the climate justice movement’s base and to raise public awareness of local threats from fracking. The interviews from this project have recently been archived on this site.
Daniel Tso, Protector, colored pencil and acrylic on paper, 40” x 36”, 2017.
From New Mexico Story Power, an online interview and portrait series featuring frontline advocates and activists in New Mexico, created in attempts to broaden the climate justice movement’s base and to raise public awareness of local threats from fracking. The interviews from this project have recently been archived on this site.
‘Songs From the Extraction Zones: A Symposium and Exhibition on Fracking in New Mexico,’ Asha Canalos for New Mexico Story Power, hosted by The Santa Fe Art Institute, exhibition co-curated by Asha Canalos and Toni Gentilli. Photo montage of symposium and exhibit opening, April 28, 2017 (photo credits Lobsang Tenzin). Canalos co-organized this symposium along with colleagues at New Mexico Story Power and SFAI; the panel discussion included several notable anti-fracking advocates in the Greater Chaco region. Canalos also co-curated the accompanying exhibit with SFAI residency manager, Toni Gentilli; the exhibit featured artwork and performances by prominent artist-activists, Rulan Tangen of Dancing Earth, Cannupa Hanska Luger/ WINTER COUNT, Lynnette Haozous, and Lyla June Johnston, among others. To learn more about the exhibit please visit SFAI’s event page. To learn more about the issues and presenters, a video of the symposium is available here .
‘The Greater Chaco Benefit Auction,’ Asha Canalos for New Mexico Story Power, hosted by The Santa Fe Art Institute. Photo montage of benefit auction, May 15, 2018 (photo credits Renee Innis). Canalos directed and curated this art auction for New Mexico Story Power and the Greater Chaco Coalition, which generated over $10,000 for Greater Chaco Coalition projects, such as indigenous-led media efforts and health and air monitoring in the Greater Chaco region. To learn more about this event, please visit SFAI’s event page.
The Greater Chaco Art Zines, 2018.
These three zines address the harms of fracking on communities in the Greater Chaco area. They were made in collaboration with Diné and Pueblo community leaders, members of The Greater Chaco Coalition, who generously met with us to discuss how fossil fuel development has impacted their communities. Canalos led this project as Visiting Artist with the Land Arts of the American West artists in a collaborative and community-engaged effort to amplify the harms of fracking upon communities, ecosystems, and climate in New Mexico. The zines have been widely distributed at community and cultural events and centers, have been used in curricula in several colleges & universities, and are available to view here.
In the Spring of 2019, the Chaco Art Zine, ‘Imbalance’ was censored by the New Mexico Museum of Art and the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs from an exhibit in the museum. In December of 2019, the artists launched a website detailing the censorship through a comprehensive timeline and requested IPRA documents: Greater Chaco Art Zines. They also created a petition, ‘Tell the New Mexico DCA & Museum of Art: Come Clean About Policy on Exhibiting Artworks Addressing the Fossil Fuel Industry in New Mexico.’
'The Magic of This Place,’ Ink on paper, 10” x 12.5”, for the Land Arts of the American West/Greater Chaco Coalition Zines, 2018. This image, a visualization of Diné community leader Mario Atencio's description of the significance of Chaco's alignments with the stars, sun, and moon, is one of Canalos’s contributions to the zines.
‘Plants and People Kicking Ass Together (Plants, People, and the Work That Lies Before Us),’ 2019.
Drawing on experiences with activism, and studies in herbalism, Canalos created an essay and artwork on these themes for the publication, Tool Book Volume III: WORKBOOK, curated and edited by Sarah Sharp. This image, hand-illustrated in ink, was designed as a fold-out 11” x 17” poster, printed via risograph.
‘Dara in the Bosque,’ Ink on paper, 8" x 12", 2020. From ‘Dara & The West Mesa': a short-form illustrated interview with eco-herbalist and author, Dara Saville, exploring her intense, multi-faceted relationship to land and place. This piece was published in SeedBroadcast Journal in the Fall of 2020. It can be read in full, with both imagery and text, here, on p.34.
‘West Mesa,’ Ink on paper, 8" x 12", 2020. From ‘Dara & The West Mesa': a short-form illustrated interview with eco-herbalist and author, Dara Saville, exploring her intense, multi-faceted relationship to land and place. This piece was published in SeedBroadcast Journal in the Fall of 2020. It can be read in full, with both imagery and text, here, on p.34.
‘Called to the Mesa,’ Ink on paper, 8" x 12", 2020. From ‘Dara & The West Mesa': a short-form illustrated interview with eco-herbalist and author, Dara Saville, exploring her intense, multi-faceted relationship to land and place. This piece was published in SeedBroadcast Journal in the Fall of 2020. It can be read in full, with both imagery and text, here, on p.34.
‘Dara and the West Mesa,’ Ink on paper, 8" x 12", 2020. From ‘Dara & The West Mesa': a short-form illustrated interview with eco-herbalist and author, Dara Saville, exploring her intense, multi-faceted relationship to land and place. This piece was published in SeedBroadcast Journal in the Fall of 2020. It can be read in full, with both imagery and text, here, on p.34.
‘River at Dawn,’ Acrylic and colored pencil on collaged paper, 10” x 14”, 2021.
NM Activism + Activist Art