Illuminate The Lock Returns

By: Sarah Peters, Director, Northern Lights.mn and Tyra Payer, Projects Coordinator, Northern Lights.mn

Owámni-yomni/Gakaabika is where the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam currently sits. Historically, this site was generally considered neutral territory between Anishinaabe and Dakota. Owámni-yomni is “whirlpool” in the Dakota language. Gakaabika is “severed rock” in the Ojibwe language. It was and still is an important and sacred place.

This winter, Illuminate The Lock returns to the whirlpool below severed rock as a new art projection event featuring up-and-coming Indigenous artist Moira Villiard, with mentorship from seasoned multimedia maker Jonathan Thunder.

This project is a partnership with All My Relations Arts, a program of Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI), Northern Lights.mn, Mississippi Park Connection and Mississippi National River and Recreation Area and is supported through a grant from the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Board.

A visitor observes art projected onto the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock wall at Illuminate The Lock in 2017, featuring artist Andrea Carlson’s work, “The Uncompromising Hand.” This year’s winter event will utilize similar technology to display brand new artistic concepts from artist Moira Villiard, with mentorship from Jonathan Thunder.

Moira Villiard is a self-taught, dynamic visual artist, Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe direct descendent, and current Minnesota-based community organizer. She is proficient in a wide variety of artistic genres including portraiture, illustration, graphic and digital design, and murals. This is her first large-scale projection project.

“Art is a social process for me. So I’m most excited for the relational aspects of this project, like working with Jonathan Thunder as my official mentor[...] I’m also grateful to explore this platform and medium in a way that elevates Indigenous perspectives.”

Moira has worked as a curator and passionate arts educator, concentrating her efforts around issues of equity and justice including arts access for underrepresented voices and communities, creative placemaking, environmental sustainability, youth empowerment, and acknowledgement of Indigenous land, culture, and history.

Jonathan Thunder, Red Lake Ojibwe, will mentor Moira with his knowledge of projection and digital animation and illustration.

“The Mississippi has been a big part of my life since I can remember,” Jonathan said. “The lock and dam at St. Anthony has always been a destination for me during times of meditation and deep thought.”

Art projected onto the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock wall at Illuminate The Lock in 2017, featuring artist Andrea Carlson’s work, “The Uncompromising Hand.” Image is of Spirit Island, with text overlay that says “This Is Dakota Land.”

Madweyaashkaa is 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.

“We are pleased to have this opportunity to increase the awareness of the ongoing epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,” said Angela Two Stars, director of All My Relations Arts. “This year’s exhibition shares a powerful message of resistance, and I am excited to see the commissioned art on such a visible platform.”

Read more seasonal articles in our Fall-Winter 2020-21 newsletter!