Madweyaashkaa: Waves Can be Heard

The Duluth Public Arts Commission presents this animation art showing by Duluth-based artist Moira Villiard. The animation will be shown outside the Washington Center from June 17–19, 9 to 11 p.m.

Villiard is a self-taught visual artist and Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe direct descendent. She celebrates the resilience of Indigenous women with this animation project synced with a soundscape featuring music by Lyz Jaakola (Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe) and a recorded narrative by Dakota/Ojibway First Nation elder Millie Richard.

With images of the Grandmother moon (Nokomis), fire, earth, water and the jingle dress dance entwined in swirling colors, the piece explores themes of homecoming and finding connection to culture, ancestors and nature, no matter how far away people may sometimes feel. From an Ojibwe perspective, it is as a reminder that Nokomis is always around, an elder willing to hear what’s in human hearts. For non-native viewers, this piece is a reminder to honor shared natural resources and reflect on community understandings of healing and connection during the course of the pandemic.

Additional artist credits: Sound effects and audio production by JayGee of DanSan Creatives. Hand drum and vocals by Lyz Jaakola. Projection and process mentoring by Jonathan Thunder.

Madweyaashkaa was originally presented as part of Bring Her Home: Sacred Womxn of Resistance, an annual exhibition at All My Relations Arts gallery that invites Indigenous artists to reflect on the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

Onigamiising, “place of the small portage,” or present-day Duluth, is made up of land that was cared for and called home by the Ojibwe people, before them the Dakota and Northern Cheyenne people, and other Native peoples from time immemorial. Ceded by the Ojibwe in an 1854 treaty, this land holds great historical, spiritual and personal significance for its original stewards, the Native nations and peoples of this region.