Dylan Miner: When Water Was Sacred // Trees Were Relatives

East Lansing-based artist and activist Dylan Miner will debut new work created for his Michigan Artist Series exhibition at GRAM that will focus on the natural environment of West Michigan and its history. Miner is a Michigan native of Wiisaakodewinini (Métis) descent. In his current work about the history and culture of Anishnaabewaki, the Indigenous Great Lakes region, Miner explores the degradation of regional resources, capitalism and colonialism as a way to shape awareness and create dialogue around these complex, intertwining issues. Miner imagines his artistic practice as creating new forms of contemporary Great Lakes regionalism, by focusing on the natural elements that make Michigan so unique and important.

In When Water Was Sacred // Trees Were Relatives, Miner investigates the important historical and current issues around three primary natural elements: wood, water, and sky, and the traditional knowledge and beliefs around them within Great Lakes Indigenous cultures.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.