Print: Last Breath of the Black Snake

In 2014, Michael Horse received a call from Winona LaDuke asking him to create a commemorative painting to document the Cowboy Indian Alliance action at the White House.  Native Americans and ranchers came together to stop the Keystone XL pipeline which would take tar sands, or oil sands as it is also called, through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. 

This print depicts the cowboys and Native Americans on horseback killing the black snake which represents the Keystone XL pipeline.  On the left is the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and Washington Monument.  On far right is the White House.  Each print is personally signed by Michael Horse.

A portion of the sale of each print goes to Honor the Earth, an organization founded by Winona LaDuke to protect and defend the system of life.

Size: 12" H x 18" W - ships in 21" x 17" cardboard envelope.

While on film sets as an actor, Michael began creating ledger paintings.  Ledger painting is a traditional Native American folk art that came out of the reservation era in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Prior to that time, events such as battles and calendars were depicted on hides using traditional paints.  When people were removed from their traditional territories and put on reservations they were not allowed weapons of any kind, so no hides.  When people no longer had access to the hides they would find any type of paper and implement to write or draw with to record what was happening prior to being on the reservation, or what life was like being on the reservation.