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In 2024, I was invited to visit Mapuche territory in Southern Chile, in order to develop a creative collaboration that would accompany the resistance. After several months living, sharing and dreaming with the Mapuche community, we began to co-create a series of murals with local Mapuche and graffiti artists from across Latin America. These images became powerful acts of visual solidarity. While we never go into a collaboration knowing what the outcome will be, this project stands out, both for the additional life it took on within the community—with painters choosing to join in and create murals of their own—and for the ways the community members responded to backlash about the work.

 

Over a period of four months, 20 murals were painted on bus stops along the main road, echoing the graffiti already present in the area. These murals marked the entrance to a region where the resistance is most deeply rooted. In this area, the very act of painting can put participants at risk. The community was visibly empowered through our collective actions and began to paint in the neighboring areas. 

 

At this time, there was some controversy in the area around police corruption. When three police officers were murdered and their bodies burned inside a truck parked beside one of our murals, (which featured a ceremonial Mapuche horse), the Mapuche were branded as terrorists, with police and media claiming the horse was employed as a stage for violence. As the State shifted the narrative, erasing the discussion of police corruption by attacking the Mapuche, the community reaffirmed the power of the mural. They spray-painted a phrase beneath it for all to see: “Chi Kawello Peib” (“The Horse is Witness”).

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Chi Kawello Peib
“The Horse is Witness”

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As the spirit there, the Mapuche horse, in the night, was the only witness to the perpetrators of the immolation. This simple, powerful message became an act of reclaiming—of image, voice, and truth. It reminds us that in the face of manipulation and state violence, our stories and symbols remain ours. The ceremonial horse, a sacred figure in Mapuche culture, becomes not just an icon of heritage, but a living witness to the ongoing struggle against imperialism, erasure, and injustice.

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As we move forward, our freedom work deepens—not only through resistance, but through the reclamation of our narratives and our imagery. For too long, the images of Indigenous peoples have been stolen, sanitized, or weaponized by dominant powers. But Chi Kawello Peib affirms what we already know:

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Our images speak.
Our symbols remember.
The land watches.
And the horse is witness.

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*There's anonymity here in order to keep the community safe*