"Re~membering Sacred Offerings for Abya Yala"

Long before Christopher Columbus arrived and fucked everything up, the Americas, then referred to by some indigenous groups as Abya Yala (“continent of life” or “land of vital blood”), were inhabited by millions of indigenous peoples divided into a host of distinct and thriving societies/cultures/tribes. By way of honoring and reconnecting to this history, the Peace and Dignity Journey (a kind of physical prayer) has been observed every four years since 1992 (interestingly, the same year NAFTA was passed). The journey is a “seven-month ceremonial run; 14,000-plus miles from Chickaloon, Alaska and Ushuaia, Argentina to meet at the bridge of the Americas in Panama to fulfill [a] prophecy to reconnect Abya Yala.” Curated by Rebel Mariposa and sponsored by Sarah Castillo’s Lady Base Gallery as part of Yanaguana Indigenous People’s Week, AP Art Lab’s “Re~membering Sacred Offerings for Abya Yala” takes shape in a photography exhibition documenting the journeys of runners (chaskis) Dr. Vanessa Quezada, Iriany Itzel Lopez-Hernandez and Adi Ejekayani Suarez Reyes.