Roots To Resistance Fact Sheet

We are a 501(c)3 through fiscal sponsorship with A.P.E Unlimited.

Roots To Resistance is painting the 4x9 ft portraits of 12 Women activists doing profoundly important work both in their communities and across the globe and conveying in these portraits a sense of the deep emotions present in the struggles that these women and their communities face.

The most important aspect of the paintings is to ground the women and partner them with the physical earth itself, to portray the intertwining of these 12 Activists and all of the living creatures in an act of profound support for both the women and the planet.

Vandana Shiva-India Ecofeminist/Environmental Activist

Natalia Estemirova-Chechnya-Murdered Human Rights Journalist

Chouchou Namegabe Congo Journalist/Women’s Rights Activist

Rebecca Gomperts Netherlands Reproductive Rights Activist

Dita Indah Sari-Indonesia-Labor Activist

Aung San Suu Kyi-Burma-Human Rights Activist

Wangari Maathai-Kenya-Environmental Activist

Zapatista Woman-Mexico Environmentalist/Indigenous Rights Activist

Marina Silva-Brazil-Environmentalist

Malalai Joya Afghanistan-Woman's Rights/Peace Activist

Yvonne Margarula Australia-Indigenous/ Environmental Rights Activist

Maria Gunnoe U.S.-Environmental Activist

The Roots Project is building social engagement and support through a Global Postcard and Postering Campaign. We are creating postcard and poster images that display each of the women activists and the issues they are fighting for and against and sending them across the world via global partnerships with organizations and individuals.

The goal of the campaign is to bring this important information to all people, from all walks of life, to get them excited about being engaged and to give them an immediate path for action.

By putting the Posters on the streets and the postcards in the hands of people, we engage them in the physical worlds that they walk through and remind them they are part of a Global Community.

We are creating local events that pair 12 women in local communities with the 12 women of Roots To Resistance. These events have been profoundly moving as the women read the words of each of our Activists to the audience after which moments of silence as well as deep discussions ensue. These are becoming model events for a future Roots To Resistance Tour.

Roots is building international and local partnerships that work together trying to empower people and communities.
Some of our many Partners: Truthout, South End Press, AWID, Defense Fund For Malalai Joya, African Gender Institute, World Pulse, Jeanette Rankin Peace Center, STITCH, Kubatana Trust, AFEM, Stop The War Coalition, AFRA, Youth and Human Rights Russia, and so many others! Roots To Resistance partnered up with the Vagina Monologues locally, this February in Northampton and built a monologue for the 12 Roots To Resistance Activists!

The creation portion of Roots To Resistance will continue for three years and will be followed by a country wide/international tour with the 12 completed portraits and Postcards in 2012. The scope of this tour will be to engage people in small community settings, in locations that are slowly taking root through the partnerships being formed within the Global Postcard Campaign.

The goal is to offer this art and these ideas to a wide range of people, both within and outside of the worlds of Art and Activism. Roots To Resistance believes that the art and political ideas in this project should be shared with all, so that everyone has the opportunity to know the work of these women and in them, see paths for becoming active people in their own worlds.

We are seeking in these times, to bring this project to all who will have it. These 12 women, their words, work and spirits can bring us profound energy, inspiration, hope, joy and deep connection!