Illustration represents growing community opposition to increase in Canadian tar sands tankers traveling through Bay Area to Phillips 66 refinery. [Claim your free sticker at Stand.earth]
The campaign to stop more tar sands tankers in San Francisco Bay got a boost today with the launch of a new custom graphic by indigenous artist Jackie Fawn. The illustration represents the growing community opposition to an increase in Canadian tar sands tankers traveling through the San Francisco Bay Area to the nearby Phillips 66 refinery in Rodeo. This proposed project which would impact local health and the climate by increasing refinery emissions and worsening air quality for nearby communities, while increasing tanker traffic and the risk of a devastating oil spill in the bay.
Jackie Fawn, a Yurok and Filipino artist and founder of Jackie Fawn Illustrations, is well-known for the artwork she created during her time at Standing Rock, where she joined other indigenous people and their allies in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The illustration features an Ohlone warrior woman with Mount Tamalpais shaped out of her mountainous hair. Her traditional regalia emerges into the form of the San Francisco Bay. She holds an abalone shell full of medicinal herbs that acts as San Francisco's iconic fog. The fog can be seen as cleansing the lands, as she fiercely stands strong for her people, protecting them in a peaceful, prayerful and determined stance. Her left hand wields a feather.
Breaching alongside her are two orca whales. The orcas help make the connection between Bay Area refineries and the extraction of tar sands in Canada, and draw attention to the need to protect these endangered creatures from a devastating tar sands oil spill. Before her are three tar sands tankers — or water snakes, as the artist calls them — setting course beneath the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. They are not a match to her fierce presence, preventing them from moving any further.