Opening ceremony digital video for Borders Like Water. Created as part of the Race Forward Butterfly Lab.
Borders Like Water (2020-2023) was a multiyear and international, intertribal initiative to re-imagine the concepts of sovereignty, migration and the nation state.
The project was conceived and created by Ixchel Xochitlzihuatl via Las Imaginistas and Voces Unidas. It was supported by NALAC, the Center for Cultural Power and Race Forward.
Over the course of this initiative we researched indigenous strategies and philosophies on movement and created principles for how to re-imagine movement in times of political, social and environmental deep change.
The project also supported ancestral ceremonies at sacred sites (located through a process of eco-social acupuncture) throughout the continental divide of Maiza (aka the Americas).
The map below shows the three primary river systems where we focused our work.
Videos were created to communicate across languages and tribes. Our final digital magazine reflects some of the key principles and teachings echoed from community leaders throughout the globe.
River map by Grasshopper Geography, Layout by Ixchel Xochitlzihuatl
Created for the Borders Like Water campaign as part of the Race Forward Butterfly Lab.