This article is part of the Fine Arts & Exhibits special section on how creativity can inspire in challenging times.
How do contemporary Anishinaabe artists explore their roots and their future, and speak today with one another? The answers to these questions are the subject of an exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts of close to 100 works — primarily contemporary — by 62 Anishinaabe artists from 21 tribes from Michigan and the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada.
The Anishinaabe, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia, are “a group of culturally and linguistically related First Nations,” who live “from the Ottawa River Valley west across northern Ontario to the plains of Saskatchewan south to the northeast corner of North Dakota, northern Minnesota and Michigan, as well as the northern shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie.”
The population, estimated at 320,000 to 330,000 across North America, includes the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree, also known as Chippewa), Odawa (also known as Ottawa), Bodewadmi (also known as Potawatomi), Mississaugas, Nipissing and Algonquin peoples, according to Kevin Leonard, the director of the Native American Institute at Michigan State University.
The goal of the exhibition, “Contemporary Anishinaabe Art: A Continuation,” is to highlight “how contemporary artists connect with Anishinaabe ancestors, teachings, communities, values, stories, future generations and each other,” according to the exhibition’s wall text.
“Diverging from the belief that Native American Art belongs only in certain places and spaces, and rejecting the narrative that Native American art is solely craft, not fine art, this exhibition challenges perceptions about what Native American art can be, how it should be seen and how it can be interpreted,” the catalog reads. “By including works by artists who continue many long-established practices and mediums while engaging with current themes, as well as artists who work with a variety of other materials, the exhibition presents a more expansive view of Native American art.”
The work in the exhibition — which includes beadwork, birch bark artistry, clothing, film, photography, graphic design, jewelry, painting, pottery, sculpture and woodwork — is primarily by contemporary artists.
There are also several marble sculptures by Mary Edmonia Lewis, an artist of both Anishinaabe and African descent who lived from approximately 1844 until 1907. They include an 1871 bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, as well as an 1868 bust of Minnehaha, a Native American character in Longfellow’s 1855 epic poem ‘The Song of Hiawatha.”
The exhibition begins with “Totemic Columns” by George Morrison (1919-2000). Designed in 1995 but fabricated after Morrison’s death, it features rectangular, totemic prisms that are not meant to tell “a story through animal and human images,” according to explanatory text by Morrison displayed near the work, “but (make) an abstract version of structural and organic vertical form.”
Also on display is Jim Denomie’s 2016 “Untitled (Totem Painting),” created in honor of Morrison. It features a self-portrait of the artist and three rabbit figures, which represent a guardian, a trickster and Denomie’s alter ego.
Robin Waynee, 54, a member of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, created the 2023 “Warclubs” white gold, diamond and Tahitian pearl earrings. According to wall text quoting the artist, “warclubs have been used by Indigenous warriors for centuries, symbolizing strength and bravery. These earrings can remind wearers of the fierce spirit of those who came before them. Strength comes in many forms, and wearing these earrings can be both powerful and beautiful. Reimagining a weapon as adornment transforms it into a symbol of empowerment.”
“Cradle of All Colors” is a 2019 work by Pat Kruse, 54, a member of the Ojibwe Tribe. Made of dyed porcupine quills on birch bark, imitation sinew, red willow, sweetgrass and birchwood, it was inspired by an 1860s birch bark quill cradle.
Its bold colors “represent diversity,” the artist said, according to explanatory text.
“While cultures vary, the desire for a bright future unites us,” it reads. “The design blends old and contemporary Ojibwe floral patterns.”
It continues, “This piece honors heritage, diversity and shared dreams of generations to come.”
Two works grew out of artists’ experiences with disease: “Fever Visions I,” a 2023 photographic print, is part of an infrared photography series, born out of a transformative illness, by Cressandra Thibodeaux, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
“During a period of intense fevers, I experienced vivid hallucinations that profoundly altered my perception of reality. This series reflects my desire to explore altered states of consciousness through vibrant color, ethereal light and distorted form,” she said, according to the accompanying text.
“On Loving,” a work composed of vinyl, beads, thread and zippers in 2022-23 by Maggie Thompson, a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, refers to the collective loss and grief of the Covid-19 pandemic, “with star quilts paying homage to the Indigenous communities that were impacted at higher rates. During the last week, I put out a call to the community and on social media to help finish the beadwork in time for a deadline. People just started showing up. Many connections were made. This brought a whole new meaning to the work,” Thompson explained, according to exhibition materials.
One unexpected work is a 1989 painting by the Ojibwe artist Norval Morrisseau, “Punk Rockers Nancy and Andy,” who are dressed in bright green jackets, their black hair flying. According to the museum, Morrisseau (1932-2007) “defied expectations about what Native American art should look like and be about.”
“In this work,” according to text in the exhibition, “he chose to paint people he may have met out and about in the city, challenging the expectation that Native American artists should depict Native American themes.”
The exhibition, which is the first major Native American art show at the Detroit Institute of Arts in more than 30 years, is the creation of Denene De Quintal, the museum’s curator of Native American art who was hired in 2019. Before her appointment, no one had held a similar curatorial role for more than a decade.
In a phone interview, De Quintal said she chose the exhibition’s theme “to build connections between the D.I.A. and Anishinaabe communities, especially because all of the federally recognized tribes in Michigan are Anishinaabe.”
The exhibition’s wall décor — much of it royal blue, some featuring abstract designs of waves, woodland flowers and starry skies — is by Eva Oldman, a tribal citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Native Americans in Michigan.
Salvador Salort-Pons, the director, president and chief executive of the museum, stressed the exhibition’s educational aspects. The museum brings in more than 75,000 local students annually in kindergarten through grade 12, including fifth-grade students who focus on the D.I.A.’s Native American galleries because of a Michigan state learning requirement.
Native Americans who present tribal identification receive free general admission to the museum and exhibition, which will be on display through April 5.
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