From August 30 through September 20 WUUC’s lobby gallery will feature the work of Jacob Johns, a Hopi and Akimel O’odham environmental defender and artist who advocates for social justice, minority rights and environmental protection.
Jacob will be our special invited speaker at the worship service on August 30. After the service, he will lead a discussion of his art.
Jacob Johns is a multidisciplinary artist whose work serves as both a personal lifeline and a collective offering. Rooted in ancestral memory and forged through lived experience, Jacob channels the internalized stress of navigating a fractured world into the painful but necessary process of humanity’s reunification. Through painting, immersive installations, and experimental video, Jacob transforms the complexities of modern Indigenous identity into vibrant works that act as conduits for healing—both individual and communal.
Jacob’s creative force is inseparable from a life dedicated to advancing international climate policy and cultivating a world rooted in justice, health, and possibility. This global advocacy continues to shape a visual language infused with urgency, ceremony, and resilience. In 2023, while defending a peaceful gathering in New Mexico, Jacob was shot—an act of violence that became a defining moment. Rather than retreat, Jacob transformed the wound into deeper purpose, using art to heal, to expose, and to invite the world into sacred narrative space—where story, spirit, and form converge to help us all relax into the healthy, livable future we deserve.
