This graphic is adapted from a design by Cori Nakamura Lin, made viral on Instagram. Cori has generously made available her artwork to support the mission of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Foundation.

Cori Nakamura Lin is an artist and organizer based in Chicago IL. Descended from multiple east Asian island peoples and raised in the midwest, she uses visuals and cultural organizing to shape narratives about diaspora, mixedness, and people's movements. Supported by her Nikkei, queer, and midwest communities, Cori makes art that plants seeds of hope and power for future generations. Her artwork can be found at @cori.lin.art and @onibaba.studio.

Artist's Image Statement:

"I first drew a version of this illustration in 2020 as a part of a Japanese American effort to raise funds to support a pilgrimage of our incarceration survivors to DC to protest immigrant family separation and incarceration. That pilgrimage was canceled due to the pandemic, and the Chicago organizers pivoted to using our resources and time to protest mass incarceration of Black and brown people at Cook County Jail, which was the COVID hotspot of the country at that time. 

The image features one of Grace's most resonant quotes that compels me to assess the urgent time on the clock of the world and link my pursuit of personal liberation with everyone else's. I chose to surround Grace with orchids: these precious plants do not grow native in the lands where I grew up, but my mother and grandmothers carefully cultivate and tend them so they flourish here in the Midwest. 

While orchids are stunning plants with striking blooms, they cannot grow or create their own food without a network of support by microscopic beings. The small dots and creatures in the illustration represent the mycorrhizal fungi that orchids rely on to process carbon, as well as the macrofauna and detritivores that break down dead materials into nutritious soil. To me, this ecosystem represents the work of deep community that Grace's legacy points me toward."

About the Boggs Foundation:

Established based on directives from Grace, the Boggs Foundation is the sole owner of the Boggses? personal and intellectual property and is designed to make the revolutionary work of Jimmy and Grace knowable and meaningful for current and future generations. The Foundation is a Domestic Nonprofit Corporation certified by the State of Michigan and holds tax-exempt status as a recognized 501(c)(3) Private Foundation by the IRS. Contributions to the Boggs Foundation are tax deductible.