Minority and Justice Commission
Artwork

Water Song

About the Artist

Diane Covington

The Washington State Minority and Justice Commission, in seeking to level the field for all peoples equally, gives much needed voice to those oppressed or ignored by the larger system. Racial inequality and ecological injustice are not unrelated. Indigenous populations have insights about the land, water, plants and animals that will need to be taken seriously by law and policy makers if we are to survive and thrive the next seven generations on this earth. This is my belief and my motivation for painting these three women who signify diverse tribes with common concerns for clean water.

Water Song represents us saving ourselves through collective intent and action. It is a prayer for water, to a synchronized beat, in the hearts of life givers and life nurturers across the land. As I painted, I prayed for the water, and I imagined that the coming together of many could result in a crescendo of healing and a wave of power to change wasteful ways. From heavy metals, fire retardant and nuclear waste running down into the Columbia River, to agriculture chemicals, storm water runoff, oil spills and pharmaceutical pollution along the coast, our very existence is threatened. Led by indigenous women, the fight to save our water and all living things may be the most important thing we ever do. As we say on the Spokane Indian Reservation, xʷlxʷilt ɫu sewɫkʷ (water is life).

Diane Covington is Sanpoil band of Colville Confederated Tribes and Spokane Tribe as well as English, Norwegian and Irish. She is a visual artist working in both traditional and contemporary indigenous materials. She specializes in figurative paintings depicting Interior Salishan women in narrative settings, both rural and urban.