About Us

Dignidad Rebelde is a project created by Bay Area activist-artists Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes. United by shared values and beliefs Jesus and Melanie use graphic arts to communicate powerful social justice messages to the masses. The purpose of their project is to promote collaboration between artists and grassroots organizations and to produce and distribute screen-printed political posters.

Melanie and Jesus’ radical political views are shaped by their Xicana Indígena worldview and spirituality and are grounded in their work with local community groups. They created Dignidad Rebelde as space where Xicanisma and Zapatismo meet, in rebellion against over 500 years of colonialism, imperialism, genocide, racism, patriarchy and neoliberal capitalism. Dedicated internationalists Barraza and Cervantes share a common interest in expressing solidarity with oppressed peoples, their liberation struggles and movements.

Melanie and Jesus are also members of the Taller Tupac Amaru, a Xicana print studio based in Oakland; Justseeds Artist Cooperative, a decentralized community of artists who have banded together to both sell their work online in a central location and to collaborate with and support each other and social movements; and the Consejo Gráfico, an independent network of print houses that has formed to advance the legacy, viability and activist orientation of Latino printmaking in the United States.

Jesus Barraza is an activist printmaker and digital artist based in the San Leandro, California. Using bold colors and high contrast images his prints reflect both his local and global community and their resistance in a struggle to create a new world. Barraza’s work continues the tradition of graphic art in the spirit of Jose Gaudalupe Posada, OSPAAAL and Juan R. Fuentes.
In 1998 Barraza was a co-founder of ten12, a collective of digital artists. He has also worked as Graphic Designer for the Mission Cultural Center/Mission Grafica, where Calixto Robles, Juan R. Fuentes and Michael Roman mentored Barraza in various screen printing methods. In 2003, he co-founded the Taller Tupac Amaru printing studio to foster resurgence in the screen printing medium, where he has complete over 100 prints. Additionally he is a partner at Tumis Inc., a bilingual design studio helping to integrate art with emerging technologies.

Click here for Jesus Barraza's Resume

Melanie Cervantes creates a powerful visual language to declare that a peaceful, sustainable and just world is possible. She is an artist trained by library books, family, peers and experimentation. She produces her work in various mediums including pen and ink, acrylic, screenprinting, embroidery, fiber arts, and spraypainted stencils. Melanie infuses her indigenous internationalist worldview, spirituality and politic into all her art.  She views her art practice as an important component of a growing movement for global social justice. Her art moves those viewed as marginal to the center and features empowered youth, elders, women, queers, indigenous peoples and communities of color. She produces political posters in collaboration with grassroots organizations that  work to build collective power. Following the tradition of such artists as Juana Alicia, Malaquias Montoya, Judy Baca, Emory Douglas, La Mujeres Muralistas and Diego Rivera- Melanie has made a life long commitment to being an artist for the people.

Click here for Melanie Cervantes' Resume