Design Title: ‘Eyooshuun / ‘Eyoohiinkem (Our Heart / Our Relatives)
Artist: Jamie Rocha, Gabrielino-Shoshone
Date: August 2025
The design for this year’s MWGOE is the result of the accumulation of emotions stemming from not only current events that are occurring in the Los Angeles area (where MWGOE takes place) and Turtle Island, but also how Indigenous communities are viewed in history and the current societal lens.
This year’s design displays a turtle, of course, representing Turtle Island. Its shell is adorned with various Gabrielino and various California Native nations’ basket patterns. Baskets are one of the cornerstones of California Indigenous cultures, representing carrying water, medicine, and food for everyone who calls Turtle Island home. It also represents the territory of which MWGOE takes place and the cultural heart of the Gabrielino peoples. The turtle is surrounded by the medicine that is white sage which represents the need for healing and grounding for Turtle Island in regards to the physical, lateral, and anti-Indigenous violence that our Native communities, from North to South, are experiencing right now.
In the middle of the turtle are seven sections, representing the “7 Turtles” story, which tells how the Gabrielino-Shoshone/Gabrielino-Tongva believe how Tovaagnar (the world) / California was created.