Merritt Johnson’s ancestry is a mix of Kanien’keha:ká, Blackfoot, Irish, Swedish and Jamaican, she is not a citizen of any of the nations from which she descends. For decades her work has navigated the spaces between bodies and the body politic, land and cultures.

“This work is an infant sized hand knit Kevlar hat, without armor plates which makes it not bulletproof. The work holds the intention to protect, and reflects knowledge of dangers faced by children carried in arms and on backs by those who are excluded from the enforced political, cultural and religious ideologies of the U.S. and other police states, and the dangers faced by those who stand for land and water in the face of corporate and colonial quests for capital, comfort and power. Mother’s love takes many forms, and in this way is often unseen, misunderstood, judged or punished. In this form a mothers love is not soft, it is unflinching and responsive. It is an extension of love, joy and strength made to face the world as it is. —Merritt Johnson

Ista konaronkwa = Mom I love you