Karaoke Rodriguez is a Colombian videographer, illustrator, and tattoo artist living and working between Atlanta, GA, and Bogota, Colombia.

“This mural pays homage to the Defend the Atlanta Forest struggle. Anyone who has been part of this movement, at any degree, knows the profound effect it has had on our communities, and thus, on the self: a true transformative process. In the forest and throughout the movement, people experienced levels of collectivity, solidarity and love usually repressed by the capitalist forces in our day-to-day lives. The movement’s resistance to these forces broke down the chains of individualistic confinement and opened up new possibilities on how to build another world together. And it doesn’t stop in the comradery built between people. The movement reminded us that our forests, and everything that lives inside of them, are vital parts to our collectivity that warrant care and curiosity. When we exist in a symbiotic relationship with our forests [or any other ecosystem], embodying a role of both protectors and protectees, this feedback loops into a deeper relationship with ourselves and our communities. No one is immune to this. No one can deny the interconnectivity of it all and its contagious liberatory effect. Even the powers against us are aware of this fact, and for that, they want to keep us separate. But to this we say no! Nothing Can Destroy the Spirit of The Earth!”

Assistant Smeesh
Photos Drew Borders, Jim Stringer
Curator Drew Borders