"American Icon"
20(h) x 24"(w) x 1.5"
Oil on canvas. 2018
 
This work is concerned with the #americanfoodindustry and it’s target on the #Americanbison(and many other keystone species) by using exploitation, market saturation, ignorant disregard for ecological health and its keystone species, and a lack of respect towards the intellectual/cultural property of our Indigenous Peoples.

One company, @epicbar as owned by #GeneralMills, has taken an Indigenous food system(pemmican or as the Crows call it Iiaxshe) and turned it for big profit and gain. All the while no credit has been given to the original keepers of the land who developed these food systems out of necessity, subsistence and sustenance. 
@epicbar calls their products part of the “food revolution” when really we’ve been doing this for millennia, this is nothing new to us. 
While I agree with many of the practices of @epicbar in sustainability and ecological health, I do not condone their total omission of contemporary Native tribes, people who’ve been developing these food systems and practices since time immemorial. Intellectual property should mean something to @epicbar if cultural existence and property does not. 
If nothing else, opportunities like initiatives, incentives, scholarships, grants, fellowships, or even donations to non-profits or institutions of higher learning could be created if @epic or anyone else who wanted to help tribal communities. Or at the very least it’d be good if they mentioned Native Peoples more than just having a hard time during the decimation of the Buffalo the mid 1800’s. 
Props out to Native Owned businesses like @tankabar and @eighth_generation who are actively fighting for and giving back to our #NativeCommunities 
#indigenousfood #thisisnotafoodrevolution #timeimmemorial #buffalo #salmon #deer #elk #boar #ecologicalrestoration #ecologicalknowledge #exploitation #nothingnew #wildlife #buffalopainting #wildlifepainting