Watershed
WATERSHED
WAYEKWAAJIWAN
Curator: Jennifer M. Friess, Associate Curator of Photography
Gallery: A. Alfred Taubman Gallery I
On View: June 4–October 23, 2022
In the Media
Watershed brings recent work from fifteen contemporary artists to UMMA for an exhibition that immerses visitors in the interconnected histories, present lives, and imagined futures of the Great Lakes region.
Some of these artists give voice to the experiences of communities that have been marginalized, making personal and visceral the social, economic, and political relationships among people, water, and land. Others use water as part of their process—whether photography, painting, sculpture—to provoke reflection on its ineffable effects on our bodies, language, and lives. All demonstrate how art can contribute to and shape current dialogues on the critical problems confronting our region.
This exhibition features new commissions from those listed below as well as works by Dawoud Bey, Pope.L, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Cai Guo-Qiang, Shanna Merola, Doug Fogelson, Matthew Brandt, and Senghor Reid.
ILLUSTRATED GALLERY GUIDE FOR WATERSHED
Visit on your own time and get more from Watershed with this illustrated gallery guide. Print it off before you arrive and follow the prompts as you explore the gallery and learn more about the art and artists of the Great Lakes region!
Download Guide
Illustration by Isabel Engel
New Commissions
Watershed includes six new works commissioned by UMMA for the exhibition.
Syrian-born and Dubai-based Khaled Al-Saa’i’s new paintings explore his connections to the Great Lakes through Arabic calligraphy, poetry, and collage.
Installation Image: Khaled Al’Saa’i, Map of the Memory & The Dress of the Poem, 2020, acrylic on canvas, courtesy the artist © Khaled Al’Saa’i, commissioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Art for Watershed, photo by Charlie Edwards
Michael Belmore’s new sculpture explores the significance of copper and stone to Anishinaabe culture and connects these ancient materials to our contemporary lived experiences.
Installation image: Michael Belmore, Resolve, 2022, stone and copper leaf. Courtesy the artist © Michael Belmore, commissioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Art for Watershed, photo by Charlie Edwards
Chicago-based artists Andrea Carlson and Rozalinda Borcilă collaborate on a new multi-channel video installation that visualizes the largely invisible systems of wetland banking practices in the watershed of Lake Michigan
Installation image: Andrea Carlson and Rozalinda Borcilă, Hydrologic Unit Code 071200, 2022, Multi-channel video, loop, courtesy the artists. © Andrea Carlson and Rozalinda Borcilă, commissioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Art for Watershed, photo by Charlie Edwards
A new mural titled The Gift by Canadian Anishinaabe-Ojibway artist Bonnie Devine examines the accounts of colonial expansion across the Great Lakes watershed.
Installation image: Bonnie Devine, The Gift, 2022, acrylic paint, graphite, ink, beaded felt, surveyor’s transit, and red cotton cloth, courtesy the artist © Bonnie Devine, commissioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Art for Watershed, photo by Molly Trudeau
Filmmaker, photographer, and activist Kate Levy’s large-scale installation explores the historic and current environmental threat of the Enbridge Line Five oil pipeline to the communities that inhabit the region.
Installation Image: Kate Levy, The Roar on the Other Side of Silence (Along Line 5), 2022, multi-media installation, courtesy the artist © Kate Levy, commissioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Art for Watershed, photo by Charlie Edwards
Washington-based artist Meghann Riepenhoff’s series of large-scale cyanotype prints are processed in the watershed of Lake Ontario along the Genesee River in Rochester, NY, near the site of the Eastman Kodak Co. production facility.
Installation Image: Meghann Riepenhoff, Waters of the Americas: EPA ID NYD980592497, Eastman Kodak’s Emissions B (Confluence of the Genesee River and Lake Ontario, Rochester, NY, 03.12.2022), 2022, Three Dynamic Cyanotypes, courtesy the artist and Yossi Milo Gallery © Meghann Riepenhoff, commissioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Art for Watershed, Photo by Charlie Edwards
Artist Bonnie Devine Paints The Gift
For two weeks in July 2022, Artist Bonnie Devine painted her commissioned mural "The Gift" directly on the Watershed gallery wall. Watch the mural take shape in this timelapse video.
Watch on YouTubeGo Deeper
Learn more about the issues facing the Great Lakes and its watershed region by visiting these organizations.
Exhibition Support
Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the U-M Office of the Provost, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, Susan and Richard Gutow, and the U-M Institute for the Humanities. Additional generous support is provided by the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability, Graham Sustainability Institute, and the Department of English Language and Literature. Special thanks to Margaret Noodin and Michael Zimmerman, Jr. for translating the gallery texts into Anishinaabemowin.
