Belong To Earth

Arts & Crafts Paintings
>
Belong To Earth

"The Earth Does Not Belong to Us, We Belong To The Earth." Chief Seattle (Si’ahl), a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish peoples, lived at a moment when his ancestral lands around Puget Sound were being taken through treaties and settlement. To him, land was not property but a web of relations—salmon runs, cedar forests, tides, ancestors, and future generations. This beautiful quote expresses a deeper worldview: humans are not the "owners" standing above the natural world. We are reminded that we are participants in a living system and we should respect the land that ultimately holds us.

16x20 gouache on illustration board. Artwork by Julie Leidel, 2026.