Artist sues Vail, Colo., for canceling residency over work drawing parallels between Gaza and Native American genocide

In response to a blatant act of censorship and violation of the First Amendment relating to the Israeli genocide in Gaza, artist Danielle SeeWalker is suing the town of Vail, Colorado. SeeWalker, a Denver-based Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta artist and muralist whose works incorporate traditional Native American materials and messages, had her 2024 artist-in-residence canceled due to complaints from pro-Zionist forces, who put pressure on the city ​​authorities. The WSWS reported on the case in May.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado filed the suit Oct. 14 on behalf of SeeWalker, a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

After months of negotiations and planning, on May 6, 2024, Vail officials announced that SeeWalker would be an artist in residence and sent the news to some 6,700 people interested in “Art in Vail” or general news about the community.

However, on April 18, SeeWalker posted a photo of one of his works on his Instagram account, G for Genocidedescribed as a portrait of a Native American woman in a Palestinian country keffiyeh. She obviously and quite legitimately drew parallels, as the ACLU brief points out, “between the disastrous situation in Gaza and the genocide of Native Americans in the United States.”

The ACLU further explains:

In the caption of her Instagram post, Ms. SeeWalker noted that a portion of the profits from the sale of her artwork would be donated to the United Nations Crisis Relief Fund to help civilians in the occupied territory of Palestine. Ms. SeeWalker used the hashtags #ARTIVISM and #artforthepeople in her post. Ms. SeeWalker’s post played a sample of the song “Still Free Palestine” by the artist Genocide in the background while viewing the post.