FEED THE FLAME

American documentary photographer Tracie Williams was arrested while recording the final three weeks leading to the eviction of protesters against the Dakota oil pipeline in 2017.

MARXISM 2018 featured the work of American documentary photographer Tracie Williams. Her "Feed The Flame" exhibition documented the final three weeks leading up to the eviction of the main resistance camp of the indigenous led movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline in the US in 2016.

The documentary series was almost never seen. After living with and photographing the Dakota Access Pipeline protestors for three weeks, Tracie was arrested and her camera, audio recorder, memory cards and cell phone were confiscated during the eviction of the Oceti Oyate Camp on February 23, 2017. Williams says that just hours before her flight back to New York, where she is based, her gear was returned to her with the help of “a couple of lawyers, several advocacy groups and a local senator.”

She was charged with physical obstruction of government function, a Class A misdemeanour that could result in a year in jail. She is scheduled to go on trial in June.