Me, Myself and I.....

Everyone I contacted was busy (after all I had issued a last minute invitation) so I took myself off to the Milwaukee Art Museum this morning. I specifically wanted to see a new exhibit entitled Native America: In Translation. The museum's underground parking facility was almost empty when I arrived at 10:30 so I had no problem finding a space and going right into the building. I showed the ticket agent my membership card and was directed to one of the downstairs galleries. I quickly walked through some of the first floor space just sort of "absorbing" colors and shapes as I went along.

Entering the exhibit gallery I stopped to read the introduction signage. In part it stated: "In the Apsaalooke language, the word Aakiwilaxpaake (People of the Earth) describes Indigenous people living in North America, pointing to a time before colonial borders were established. In this exhibition, curated by the Apsaalooke artist Wendy Red Star, artists of various Native nations and affiliations from throughout what is now called North America offer their diverse visions, building on histories of image making."

I wandered past images captured in photographs, mixed media paintings, three dimensional pieces and one inkjet print photograph that made me stop and stare.

Entitled "mother" by Rebecca  Belmore (Anishinaabe, Lac Seul First Nation) I must have stood in place for almost five minutes just looking at different aspects of the image. A woman almost trapped behind glass or ice or thick clear plastic, (?) one hand up in what seemed to me an almost helpless pose. Plain grey sweatshirt....pair of jeans....blue blanket on the ground/floor behind her. The entire background and floor beneath her created with a large, wrinkled piece of hanging fabric/plastic? Her eyes were looking up and to my right....into the distance. What would she have seen?

Why did this piece grab me and almost shake me...."Stand and look at me it said." So I did.