The Water Protector was created for the Streetwise mural festival in September of 2021 with my dear friend Jay Bellicchi–he painted the colorful, geometric abstract sides and created the portrait and flower. This portrait portrays Autumn Peltier, an Anishinaabe Indigenous clean water and indigenous rights activist. She is also the youngest Chief Water Commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation. She was just 8 years old when she responded to her calling as a water protector and as a teenager today she has traveled the world and become a leading advocate for clean water for First Bellicchi Nations. Her blue complexion signifies the water within us all and the water she works so hard to protect. The mirroring of the flower symbolizes how the natural world and humans are one in the same and how we must respect the earth and in turn ourselves, in order to survive. The rainbow between the face and the flower symbolizes the connection between spirit and earth.