Felipe Xilotrópico "Solo el Pueblo, Salva al Pueblo." bandana
"This design was conceived and drawn from the depths of the sentimentality of hope in these dark times. The central phrase, "only the people save the people," makes it clear that the strength of the community lies in its own organization and in working together.
Each symbol—the butterfly, the hummingbird, the hammer, and the shovel—represents the hope, resistance, and effort of the people organizing from the bottom up. The colors, in addition to being inspired by Zapatista references (as well as their forms from nature itself), reflect life, struggle, and the land that are inspiration, nourishment, and our very life together. Nothing exists in solitude; we all resist in coexistence. In short, this design is a visual reminder that real change comes from the community. It's that simple: only the people save the people."
22" x 22" premium cotton bandana. Yellow fabric with 3 ink colors. All proceeds go to NDLON's organizing and programmatic work. Bandanas are hand-cut & hand-printed so each bandana has its own natural variation in shape and size.
Artist Bio: Xilotrópico is a Chilean graphic designer. His work, centered on woodcuts and popular graphics, explores the social resistance and memory of Andean communities. Since 2014, when he began taking his work to the streets during her university's strike, he has developed a practice that unites art, pedagogy, and visual activism.
His production is based on "learning by doing" and the "logic of the gift": open workshops, shared work, and collective learning. He combines the traditional technique of woodcutting with contemporary digital tools, maintaining printmaking as a political, pedagogical, and revindicative act.
He has collaborated with workshops and graphic production spaces in Latin America and the United States, including Serigrafía Instantánea (Chile), Imprenta Pública (Peru), La Linterna (Colombia), and Pilsen Arts Community House (Chicago), among others.
For Xilotrópico, printmaking is a weapon of consciousness and a language of community: a way of imagining the future from the hands of the people.