Stand Firm

Stand Firm Commentary by Frances Rothwell Hughes Cite Share Show Bible Passage This is a photograph documenting a performance by activists protecting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation from the threat of the Dakota Access Pipeline, an oil transportation system intended to cut across sacred landscapes and waterways. The performers are brandishing mirrored shields designed by the Indigenous artist Cannupa Hanska Luger to protect the protestors from the police and the forces behind the DAPL. The idea of the mirrored shield may be traced back to antiquity, with the epic hero Perseus defeating the Medusa by deflecting her deadly stare. Luger’s Mirror Shield Project uses the same method of combat in poetic form, by reflecting the symbolic violence of the authorities back at themselves (Lee 2023: 185–86). The shields are tools of non-violent resistance, allowing their bearers to stand firm, armed with truth, righteousness, and peace. The language in Ephesians 6 encourages the listener ‘to stand’ against the ‘wiles of the Devil’. This echoes tropes in ancient Greek literature in which ‘standing firm’ with defensive arms was associated with virtuous strength, whilst cunning and airborne attacks were considered tools of devilish warfare (Asher 2011: 732). Mirror Shield Project conveys similar rhetorical ideals, protecting the protestors from police surveillance planes, rubber bullets, and water cannons, while using a device that simply reveals things as they are, truthfully and honestly. The mirrored shields create an ‘armour of light’ (Romans 13:12), prompting all viewers (including us) to reflect on our implicit role in struggles over God’s creation, both at Standing Rock and within humanity’s ongoing attempts to colonize nature. Ephesians 6:10–20 also asks its readers to re-frame any localised conflict within a much greater cosmic war against the forces of darkness. Keeping the eternal faith sometimes means losing the temporal battle; the Dakota Access Pipeline has been operational since Spring 2017. References Asher, Jeffrey R. 2011. ‘An Unworthy Foe: Heroic Ἔθη, Trickery, and an Insult in Ephesians 6:11’, Journal of Biblical Literature, 130.4: 729–48 muse.jhu.edu/article/465775 Bradnock, Lucy. 2023. ‘Art History and the Landscape of Crisis’, Art History, 46.1: 8–11 Lee, Robyn. 2023. ‘Art, Affect, and Social Media in the “No Dakota Access Pipeline” Movement’, Theory, Culture, & Society, 40.7–8: 179–92