The frontline of refusal: indigenous women warriors of standing rock

Indigenous women stand in solidarity on the frontline of refusal, protecting their ancestral homelands and their ways of life across North America and beyond. The Indigenous stand-off at Standing Rock in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline inspires this photo series of vignettes where Indigenous voices accompany images of Indigenous women in their battle as frontline water protectors. The intention of these vignettes is to share the intimacy of Indigenous experiences on the frontline that challenge perceptions of Indigenous women and instead situate them as warriors of wellness in the face of violence. The frontline in this reality represents the contested space where Indigenous people gather to refuse settler-colonial violence against Mother Earth, territorial lands, and Indigenous Peoples. Through the photo essay, we observe how Indigenous women reclaim identity through language revitalization, commitment to original instruction, and the right to visibility. Indigenous women define their missions of wellness and address direct challenges to community health they overcome in these spaces of refusal.