EXHIBIT: James Kaneko Gallery, ARC

From the series: "Brown Women on a Brown Continent"

My current exhibit, Brown Women on a Brown Continent, is a visual statement on the interconnected relationship between Brown women indigenous to this American continent and the earth beneath your feet. Natural twine, clay, skulls and stones lead the eye to tell the story through photography and art installation. It is told through my connection to the region of my ancestors: what is now the U.S. and Northern Mexico. From America's Nuvuk in the north to Karukinka in the south, the bond between Indigenous American women and this soil is a more than 20,000-year ancestral heartbeat.

The photography + art installation concludes on Thursday, April 9th, 2026.

The collection: a limited edition of 20 archival pigment prints from this series is now available for acquisition through New Bird Studio.

To see the images and meaning behind each piece please visit the gallery here

• Deer Woman: Exhibition Original Sold. (Limited edition prints remaining).

• The Exhibition Originals: Hand-matted and framed 1/20 prints available for local pickup. $350.

• Studio Acquisitions: Matted and "Image Only" formats available for shipping or local pick up. Starting at $150.

To witness the movement of the Cántaro and the scale of the installation at Kaneko Gallery view the exhibition film here

ARTIST STATEMENT:

"Brown Woman on a Brown Continent" is a photography and art installation centered on the ancestral connection between us women who are indigenous to this land and the tierra beneath our feet. It is a study of interconnectedness - the understanding that the bones building this soil are those of our ancestors. Their lives, the plant and animal life, and the elements are braided into our very existence. The body remembers the land it is connected to; this intrinsic bond speaks to a profound knowledge and desire to honor and nurture the land, regaining strength by remaining connected to identity.

This work is born from the indigenous knowledge that women are rocks: foundational and unyielding strength, watchers of the continent. I am rock. My creative intuition is a process of learning and reconnecting to my Rarámuri and Yaqui ancestry. The elements used in this installation are my way of honoring and expressing this lineage: the Cántaro is the womb, suspended by twine that functions as an umbilical cord. It hangs as a pendulum, a physical heartbeat tethered directly to the grandmother stones and the soil.

To live with, vs. against, the environment is an act of resistance; it is a direct countering of the toxins of colonization. At a time when the prevailing narrative suggests we are immigrants to this land, this work states clearly that we pre-exist the United States of America. America is not a country, but a continent of Brown people. We did not migrate; we have existed throughout what is currently the U.S. part of America for 20,000+ years. We are of this land, fashioned from corn and raised by the sun.

The destruction of the world is a result of a lost connection to the land - the dangerous tool of the colonizer. Every person is indigenous to a part of this world, and what is being sought is a reconnection to that personal indigeneity. We are the heartbeat for which borders and flags do not erase the regions of our ancestors. We are the origin, not the immigrant.

America is a Brown Continent.

Acknowledgements:

A huge thank you to Patricia and Dolores at Kaneko Gallery for the invitation and for the work they put into hanging this vision. It was an honor to share the walls with the other photographers in the exhibit. To Esme, thank you for the trust and the spirit you brought to these frames.

On the peak, woven into the rock, is a small bird. "Being" is about the bird and the grandmother stones, watching and witnessing. The images from this exhibit are layered and reveal more the longer you stay.

Connect with the Studio

To follow the ongoing creative projects, photojournalism, , design, limited runs, please follow:

• The Studio: @newbirdstudio

• The Artist: @robertaalvaradophotography

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Roberta Alvarado Founder & Lead Artist