Gichinabanetaagwad, Besho Line 5 (The Roar on the Other Side of Silence, Along Line 5)

A white wall with dozens of small photographs and newspaper clippings arranged in a timeline. There are also rocks and plaques on white plinths.

The Roar on the Other Side of Silence (Along Line 5), 2022

Digital image. Courtesy the artist © Kate Levy Installation photography by Charlie Edwards, courtesy of the University of Michigan Museum of Art

About the Art

Gichinabanetaagwad, Besho Line 5, (Anishinaabemowin)

Kate Levy
Gichimookomaanakiing, 1984 gaa-ondaadizi

Gichinabanetaagwad (Besho Line 5)
2022
Anoonji-Gazinaatesewinan Gaazhinenjigaadeg
Nimiigwechiwenimaanaan Gaazheninjiged
Mishigami Gichigabegikendaasowigamig izhi-Ganawendaanaawaan Gaazheninjigaadeg waabanda’inegwaa ge Wayekwaajiwan izhiseg wenji-nanaandomangid Gaazheninjiged

Gakina giizhenindaan a’aw Kate Levy izhi-nandagikendaagwag ezhi-aanikoobijigaadeg de-gashkijigeyang, maji-inenindiwin, anoonji-dibaajimotaagwag, gaye inaakonigewinan Mishigaming gaye miziwegamigong. Gichinabanetaagwad (Besho Line 5) izhi-aabajichigaade gaa-nandagikendaagwag ezhiwebag besho Line 5-ing, bezhig dash dagong ge anoonji-ogondaaganaabikoon anaamakamigong aapiji-babaami-ayi’iig endazhi-maajiijigaadeg makade-bimide gaa-onzikaag Miskwaasining zaagidawijiwang Baawatigong ako Zhaaganaashakiing.

Daa-waabanjigaadewan niizh daso ezhiwebag, ge naawayi’iing miskwaabeshaag izhiseg. Ishpaa-ayi’iing daa-waabanjigaadewan gakina ezhiwebag agidakamigong, memindage apii ziigwebinigaadeg makade-bimide. Levy ogii-mazinaakizige apii bimidaabii’iwed izhi-bimijiwang makade-bimide— iw apii bwaa-inaakonang gaye zezikaa babaami-ayaad ji-nandanisidawaaabandang gegeti-ezhiwebag. Niisa-ayi’iing dash daa-waabanjigaade iw apii izhiseg gakina gaa-ezhiwebag wenji-giizheninjigaadeg Line 5 memindage dash azheyaajimowinan gaye inaakonigewinan bwaa-gikendaagwag iw apii. Gakina dash daa-nisidawaabanjigaade ezhi-izhichigewaad wenaakonigejig gaye inishkawaawaad gakina bemaadizijin.

The Roar on the Other Side of Silence, Along Line 5 (English)

Kate Levy
United States, born 1984

The Roar on the Other Side of Silence (Along Line 5)
2022
Multi-media installation
Courtesy of the artist
Commissioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Art for Watershed

Kate Levy’s documentary films and installations interrogate the relationships between unequal access to resources, economic and environmental racism, media narratives, and democratic agency in Michigan and beyond. The Roar on the Other Side of Silence (Along Line 5) brings together years of place-based research on the subject of Enbridge’s aging Line 5, a segment of the energy company’s vast network of underground pipelines that transports millions of gallons of crude oil per day from Wisconsin through the Straits of Mackinac (which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron) to Ontario, Canada.

Levy’s installation features two parallel timelines, separated by a red line. The top segment documents elements of life above ground, including instances of spills. It includes a stream of photographs Levy made during drives along the pipeline’s route—unplanned and intuition-driven journeys through capitalist landscapes. The bottom segment features a timeline of Line 5’s political history, including the stories of decision making processes often inaccessible to the broader public, and seminal events that passed largely unnoticed. Together they illustrate the power dynamics between extractive industries and local communities, and the relationship between everyday life and impending catastrophe.

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