Monroe Gallery of Photography joins Fall Of Freedom with an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation. On October 2,3, and 4 2026, plan to visit the exhibition Eugene Tapahe: ART HEALS, The Jingle Dress Project and Standing Rock Movement.
Additionally, in solidarity with of Fall Of Freedom, Monroe Gallery presents a Pop Up exhibition online of photographs documenting people struggling for their freedom; their right to live without fear, their right to speak and the right to protest inequities.
Tapahe documented the strength, unity, inspiration, resilience, and hope of the Indigenous-led movement that began in April 2016 to block the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota. He remembers the grace and courage of Jingle Dress dancers healing the trauma inflicted on the water protectors from police and private security forces by water cannons, LRAD sound cannons, rubber bullets, pepper spray, mace, tear gas canisters and bean bag blasts.
When asked “Why did you go to the Oceti Sakawin camp?”, Tapahe says “It was my responsibly to be there, to help our people, our ancestors, our water, and our land. It felt as if our ancestors were physically standing with us in unity around the sacred fire – singing and dancing with us. The spiritual awakening will be with me always as I continue my creative journey to photograph and document the beauty of Mother Earth and our people.”
Years later, Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project originated from a dream Tapahe had inspiring him to unite the land and people through the healing power of the Ojibwe jingle dress dance. The Jingle Dress Project has raised awareness of many Native American issues, such as land acknowledgment, women’s rights, and, most importantly, the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).
Fall Of Freedom is an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping our nation. Our Democracy is under attack. Threats to free expression are rising. Dissent is being criminalized. Institutions and media have been recast as mouthpieces of propaganda.
Fall of Freedom returns for its second year — expanding the national call to creative resistance. FoF is an open instigation to artists, venues and institutions across all disciplines to put your work in the world on October 2nd, 3rd, & 4th, countering fascist repression and censorship with joyful communities of defiant creativity. Art matters. Courage is contagious.
Due process gutted. Universities threatened and defunded. Students kidnapped. Migrants deported. Troops deployed. Racism rampant. Cruelty celebrated. Political leaders arrested. Citizenship stripped. Health care shredded. Women's rights rescinded. Wealth concentrated. Free speech eliminated. Genocide normalized. Science undermined. Arts assaulted. Journalism targeted. Departments shuttered. Grants rescinded. Trans banned. Lawyers capitulating. Coup makers pardoned. Budgets slashed. Abortion outlawed. Courts stacked. Boards replaced. Police unleashed. Nazis emboldened. Bombs dropped.
This is why we must resist.
