Future Cache Works
Future Cache Works
Gouache on paper Letterpress, ink on paper. Courtesy of the artist
About
Andrea Carlson
Anishinaabe, Gichimookomaanakiing, 1979 gaa-ondaadizi
2022
Agokiwasiganaaboo mazina’iganing
Ginjidabii’igan-mazina’igan, ozhibii’iganaaboo mazina’iganing
Nimiigwechiwenimaanaan Gaazheninjiged
- Wiisagishing
- Zazaagiziwinini
- Naabaa’igani-Gichipizon aabajichigaade wii-bimiwichigaadeg bwaa-ayi’iig geyaabi #4
Gaazhigiked - Nibi
- Naabaa’igani-Gichipizon aabajichigaade wii-bimiwichigaadeg bwaa-ayi’iig geyaabi #6
- Makak Mamazinaa
- Gigizhebaa-giizhig “Binaakwiiwi-giizis 15, 1900”
- Naabaa’igani-Gichipizon aabajichigaade wii-bimiwichigaadeg bwaa-ayi’iig geyaabi #5
- Ginjidabii’igan-mazina’igan, Margaret Noodin, “Zhiibaa’iganing Anishinaabeg”
- Ginjidabii’igan-mazina’igan, Mark Turcotte, “Gichiwaasa Dewegewag”
- Ginjidabii’igan-mazina’igan, Laura Parkey, “Bagwaji’aanimad”
- Ginjidabii’igan-mazina’igan, Heid E. Erdrich, “Naniinawitaagoziwag” ogii-ozhibii’aan
- Ginjidabii’igan-mazina’igan, “Zhiibaa’iganing Jiibayegamig”
Anishinaabeg gaa-asanjigowag chizhaazhi igo miinawaa geyabi waabanjigaadeg besho Burt Zaaga’iganing noongom. Carlson asanjigo wii-zhaabwii’aad ge-zhiibendaminid bemaadizijin niigaan nakeyaa. Ozhaabwiitoonan ozhizhoobii’iganiman, gaakikinang naagadaajimowinan, ginjidabii’igan-mazina’iganan, gaye gete-gegoon ganawendaagwag Mishigami Gichigabegikendaasowigamig izhi-Ganawendaanaawaan Gaazheninjigaadeg Ezhi-gaa-Wiijiindiwaad.
Naabaa’igani-Gichipizon aabajichigaade wii-bimiwichigaadeg bwaa-ayi’iig geyaabi #4 ako #6 izhi-waabanda’ang Carlson minowaabaminaagwag Anishinaabe naabaa’igani-gichipizonan aabajichigaadeg wii-babaamiwiijigaadeg. Onow gaazheninjigaadeg ge izhinikaadeg, gaye Wiisagishing, mikawaamigooyang gakina gaa-giichigonigoowaad gaye gete-izhitwaawaad omaa. Naabaa’iganan dash ezhi-atenoon izhi-mikawenindamang nayaabisingin ateg wiigwaasi-makakoon – mii gaye aabajichigadeg wii-babaamiwiijigaadeg anoonj. Desinayaabisingin atenoon ge aazhidebii’iganan ezhi-inaagwag, mii gaye ezhi-inaagwag dibishkoo ikwewag ezhi-inaagoziwaad ge nisidawendaagwag Anishinaabe-inendamong.
Miziwe zhizhoobii’iganing, Carlson izhi-mikwendaanan gaa-ezhiwebag midaaswi-ashi-naanogonagag, Binaakwiiwi-giizis 1900 apii izhi-daawaad Zhaabo’iganing Anishinaabeg gaa-jaagizigaadeg. Gigizhebaa-giizhig “Binaakwiiwi-giizis 15, 1900” daa-izhi-nisidawaabanjigaade ezhi-inaagwag madogaanan giizhigong iw apii memwech. Gaazhigiked-ing chi-ogimaa iw apii izhinikaazod Gaazhigowi gaye ayaad ishpiming imaa biskikaag neyaashi mizhikaageg nibi Burt Zaaga’iganing. Gaawiin gaagige-ayi’iisinoon daa-izhi-nisidawaabanjigaade iw apii memwech gaa-ezhiwebag gaye daa-mikwendamang ge Zhaabo’iganing Anishinaabeg zhiibendamowaad iw apii gakina gaa-jaagizigaadeg.
Carlson gaye gii-asiginaanan naagadaajimowinensan ge izhi-dazhindaagwag ikonigaazowin gaye debendaagoziwin – omaa izhi-ateg ge ozhitood ginjidabii’igan mazina’iganan gaye gaa-mazinibii’ang – gaa-ozhibii’amowaad nayaagadaajimojig Heid E. Erdrich, Mark Turcotte, gaye Margaret Noodin. Zhaabo’iganing Anishinaabe izhinikaazo Laura Parkey gii-maada’oozhiyangid bezhigwan naagadaajimowinens gaye ozhibii’igaadeg gikinawaajichiganing ateg Zhaabo’iganing Anishinaabe Chitwaa Maanii jiibayikaaning.
Gaa-debi-giizhichigaadewan onow naanan daso ginjidabii’igan mazina’iganan gaye wii-adaawenamaang adaawewigamigoonsing, gaye wii-miizhangidwaa gakina zhooniyaa Zhaabo’iganing Anishinaabeg ge adaawenamaang onow ginjidabii’igan mazina’iganan.
Ojibwe, United States, born 1979
Gouache on paper
Letterpress, ink on paper
Courtesy of the artist
- Hurt
- A Selfish Man
- L’Assomption Sash for Carrying Things that No Longer Exist #4
- Day Maker
- Nibi
- L’Assomption Sash for Carrying Things that No Longer Exist #6
- Box Pattern
- Sky in the Morning Hours of “Binaakwiiwi-giizis 15, 1900”
- L’Assomption Sash for Carrying Things that No Longer Exist #5
- Broadside, Margaret Noodin, “Zhiibaa’iganing Anishinaabeg”
- Broadside, Mark Turcotte, “A Very Distant Drumming”
- Broadside, Heid E. Erdrich, “Public Grief”
- Broadside, Laura Parkey, “Wild are the Winds”
- Broadside, Cheboiganing Cemetery
- Not Forever
Storing food, supplies, and equipment for winter in underground pits—the remnants of which still exist around Burt Lake—is an ancestral Anishinaabe practice. Here Carlson provides a cache of symbolic materials intended to promote a sense of belonging and sustain Indigenous people into the future. It is comprised of her own paintings, selected poems, and historic objects from the collection of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology.
In L’Assomption Sash for Carrying Things that No Longer Exist #4–#6, Carlson references colorful Indigenous l’assomption, or arrow, sashes historically used to tie and carry items on one’s body. The poetic titles of these works, along with Hurt, are a reminder of the people who were displaced from their land and the cultural practices that once-thrived in the region. The arrangement of the arrows recalls patterns found on birch bark boxes—another method of holding or carrying things of value. The flattened patterns form variations of X-shapes, which also refer to the silhouette of a woman’s form in Anishinaabe lexicon.
Throughout the cache paintings, Carlson memorializes the events of October 15, 1900, when the Cheboiganing Band’s village was burned. Sky in the Morning Hours of “Binaakwiiwi-giizis 15, 1900” includes a representation of the constellations in the sky on that day. In Daymaker, the name of the Band’s chief at the time—Ka Ji Go We, or Day Maker—is painted above the curved shape of the peninsula reaching into the blue waters of Burt Lake. Not Forever memorializes the date itself and reminds us that the Burnout is not the end of Cheboiganing Band’s story.
Carlson also gathers together poems about displacement and belonging—reproduced here as letterpress broadsides accompanied by her own drawings—by contemporary poets Heid E. Erdrich, Margaret Noodin, and Mark Turcotte. The Burt Lake Band shared a poem by Laura Parkey and the text of a marker in what remains of the Cheboiganing Band’s St. Mary’s cemetery.
Limited-edition sets of these five broadsides are for sale in the Museum Shop, with earnings donated to the Cheboiganing (Burt Lake) Band.
Future Cache at the University of Michigan Museum of Art
Visit the exhibit at the University of Michigan Museum of Art