Klee Benally, Diné anti-uranium activist, Arizona, USA

8”x10” palladium print from original 6x7 medium format negative

1/15 Limited Edition available.

70% of the profit from this image will be donated to a charity of Klee’s choice: Haul No!, a volunteer Indigenous-led group collaborating with Indigenous communities and leaders, environmental organizations, and community-based advocates working to stop nuclear colonialism in the Southwest.

https://haulno.com

Klee Benally is a Diné (Navajo) musician, traditional dancer, artist, filmmaker, & Indigenous anarchist. He has worked nearly all of his life at the front lines in struggles to protect Indigenous sacred lands. Klee is currently the national coordinator for Clean Up The Mines and helped establish Táala Hooghan Infoshop, Protect the Peaks, Outta Your Backpack Media and volunteers with Haul No, an Indigenous-led group working to stop uranium ore transport from the Grand Canyon mines to the White Mesa Mill, the last conventional uranium processor in the US.

In this image, Klee stands in front of an abandoned uranium mine site, less than a kilometre from residential housing. For decades, this mine was abandoned without any remediation, remaining accessible without any barriers or warnings. Children were known to play on the tailing piles. His persistent advocacy for local communities resulted in the mine being backfilled and fenced off, with warning signs to alert the public to the hazard.

Klee’s work to end uranium mining and clean up existing sites on the Colorado Plateau isn’t over; with thousands of un-remediated, abandoned mines and renewed interest in uranium mining, the fight for environmental justice continues.