The Gallery of Revolution presents
WATER is a HUMAN RIGHT!
featuring photojournalist-activist
Valerie Jean Blakely
Opening Date: Saturday, February 3, 2024 from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
In Gallery: January 13 – March 30
Gallery Hours: Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays – 10 am - 2 pm or by appointment
Through my lens, there is a spiritual connection to water that we all share and is the one seemingly simple thing that brings us all together in complex ways. This photography exhibition is a small glimpse of the intimate and intricate relationship between water and life. It documents the beauty of our community coming together and protecting what is most sacred.
This exhibition - WATER is a HUMAN RIGHT! - represents a sampling of 13 years of photographic documentation of water struggles. These photos tell the story of the resistance, struggle, and self-determination of people who had enough and decided to make a difference. Water is life. Water is a human right!
Brief Biography
Valerie Jean Blakely (she/her) is a movement photojournalist from Detroit, the Assistant Editor for Riverwise Magazine, the Communications Director for the People’s Water Board Coalition, and co-hosts the weekly Water Wednesday Webcast.
Valerie has been photographing protests, direct actions, and community mobilizations since 2011. She joined the Occupy Wall Street Movement and started organizing to protect water. She learned about the imminent threat of tar sands and began organizing with indigenous communities to shut down Enbridge Line 5, which runs through the Great Lakes and 70 tributaries throughout Michigan. In 2014, as she witnessed her whole neighborhood in Detroit be shut off from water, in coalition with concerned citizens and grassroots organizations, Valerie set up a water station in her front yard to respond to the mass water shutoffs in Detroit. This experience led her to join the People’s Water Board Coalition, which she has been organizing for safe, affordable water for all.
Valerie Jean Blakely was recently awarded the 2023 Water Warrior Award at the Water Is Life Festival for her years of photography and organizing work to protect water and make it affordable for all.