Mother Earth Hurts, So Do We

[First place Synapse Storytelling Contest Winner for photography.] Maestra Rocio Morales, a Zapotec healer and community leader mourns the dispossession of earth-based healing practices and intercultural values among Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities of Mexico. At the 13th annual Llamado del Caracol in Amecameca, Estado de Mexico, she pleads us to raise our earth-centered critical consciousness that when mother earth hurts, so do we. She calls on us to reflect on the water crisis and climate injustices happening around the globe. This photo was taken by a 5th year Indigenous PhD Student curating a critical ethnographic project exploring Indigenous healing practices and knowledge exchange across the US-Mexico state sanctioned border.