Gagizhibaajiwan

Gagizhibaajiwan

June 15, 2024 - December 14, 2024

With Marcella Ernest, Michael Belmore, Renee Dillard, and Zoey Wood-Salomon

Misshepezhieu, the Underwater Panther, lives below the water. Animikii, the Thunderbird, lives in the sky. These two beings live in constant conflict and constant relation, meeting along shorelines and whirling up storms. In Anishinaabe art they are often represented together, suggesting a way to hold duality’s tension. How do we reconcile what cannot be reconciled?

In Anishinaabemowin, gagizhibaajiwan (guh-gih-zhi-bah-jih-wun) is a continuous swirling motion of water portending the Underwater Panther’s emergence from under the surface. The churn mediates earth, water, and sky, implying fluid movement through layers of the world spanned by Misshepezhieu and Animikii. Gagizhibaajiwan features four Anishinaabe artists – Marcella Ernest (Gunflint Lake Ojibwe/Bad River Band of Lake Superior), Michael Belmore (Anishinaabe from Lac Seul First Nation), Renee Wasson Dillard (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians), and Zoey Wood-Salomon (Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory) – who move through these layers in story and art, evoking Anishinaabe teachings on duality, ambiguity, and balance.

In the depths of sky and swirling water, there is room for paradox.

Gagizhibaajiwan is curated by Lois Taylor Biggs (Cherokee Nation/White Earth Ojibwe) with curatorial mentorship from Kalyn Fay Barnoski (Cherokee Nation/Muscogee). The exhibition is generously supported by the Design Museum of Chicago, the Luce Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and Art Design Chicago.

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Mishibizhiw. Animikii.

Eyaajig zaaga’iganing. Eyaajig ishpiming.

Eyaajig omaa noongom.

Miigaadiwag. Inawendiwag. Manaaji’idiwag.

Gimiigwechiwi’aanaanig. Gigagwejimaanaanig ji-zhaweniminangwaa. Aangodinong dash ginishkaazomaanaanig.

Apane go gimawadisigonaanig. Giishpin waabamadwaa gidaa-bagidinaa asemaa.

Eyaajig omaa noongom. Ge-ayaajig omaa waabang.

Mishibizhiw. Animikii.

The ones in the lake. The ones in the sky.

The ones here today.

They fight with one another. They are related to one another. They respect one another.

We give thanks to them. We ask that they might pity us. Sometimes we speak angrily at them.

They visit us all the time. If you see them, you should put down your asemaa.

The ones here today. The ones who will be here tomorrow.

Mishibizhiw. Animikii.

Anishinaabemowin text written and translated by Forrest Bruce (Ojibwe).

FEATURED ARTISTS

MARCELLA ERNEST

Gunflint Lake Ojibwe/Bad River Band of Lake Superior

Artist Statement

Click here to listen to the artist.

Click here to read transcription of the audio.

gichi-ginebigoog gaye binesiwag, 2024

Multichannel sound installation with wall treatments and projected video, 12 minutes. Audio narration by Bomgiizhik (Isaac Murdoch), Ojibwe from Serpent River First Nation. Underwater noise captured with individually calibrated hydrophones and wide frequency waterborne-sound transducers in Lake Superior and Gunflint Lake, in the Winter.

Solvent-printed, black matte vinyls created with Baapashkaamookwe (Nataaní-Niigizhig), Diné and Ojibwe.

Mixed media booklets (on thoughts and process). Hand stitched. Glass beads. Cotton thread. Cyanotype photo transfers of ribbons and sticks with lake water. Printed on cotton paper and clear transparency film. The artist invites you to look through the books.