Anishinaabek Neighbors: Jamie John

Jun. 29—TRAVERSE CITY — It started with a simple rock, painted to resemble a turtle by then 6-year-old Jamie John.

Since then, that rock became a gentle reminder of their journey as a Kitchi Wiikwedong Odawa artist.

Early on, art became a navigational tool to find how John fit into the larger world "despite colonialism, loss, and gender violence."

John began taking art and gardening classes as a child to help with the grieving process after losing his grandfather, Raymond-baa John. A therapist helped John at a young age discover their love for telling stories through the arts.

"At its core, art really is about telling a story," John said. "Being Odawa, I've always been very close to the stories I tell, and it's an important part of how I communicate as a person."

With personal narrative intertwined with historical memory and cultural loss, John said their work invokes what it means to be Indigenous, to honor histories and to look at the future.

"I hope to show that our culture isn't ornamental, but instead a fundamental part of our ways of life," John said.

He majored in interdisciplinary arts (then called comparative arts) for four years at the Interlochen Arts Academy where he now teaches the histories and contemporary arts of Anishinaabek Peoples as an instructor of visual arts.

Soon after graduation, John was invited to for an arts residency in Shenyang, China, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, had to return to the United States just a few weeks later. John continued making art through a series of group exhibitions and an acceptance to a Sundance fellowship.

Creating art is something John said he knew he always wanted to do in life, but it took a leap of faith after quitting a dead-end job to pursue his passion in a way that would help uplift the stories he wants to tell.

In May of last year, the Sundance Institute named John a 2021 Full Circle Fellow with an invitation to participate in its Native Lab — a program that champions and provides support for Indigenous-created stories through guidance, funding, and other systems.

In his time with the fellowship, John developed a script for a short Indigenous science-fiction film that reflects on the time of the space landing in the 1960s.

He said the film is a reflection of the '"60's scoop," in which the child welfare system removed Indigenous children from their families and communities in large numbers and placed them in non-Indigenous foster homes or adoptive families, institutions, and residential schools.

He calls the film timely, in the wake of the recoveries of unmarked graves at residential boarding schools across the nation and Canada.

"While everyone was in a race to the moon and worried over the 'red scare,' our families were trying to keep their children from being taken," he said.

John said he hopes to begin production on the film soon, with the intention that it will lead to discussions not only about the past, but the future as well.

"Our culture is still here, it's older than the system of the United States that has continuously tried to eradicate Indigenous Peoples, I want my art to really speak for itself," he said.

Previously, his work has been featured in museums, and art galleries across the nation, including Michigan's Detroit Institute of Art and Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art in Lansing.

Recently John finished their residency at Ma's House & BIPOC Art Studio Inc. led by Indigenous artist, Jeremy Dennis. The house serves as a communal art space and includes a residency program for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, art studio, and library that is based on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in Southampton, New York.

In a series titled, "The Shinnecock Ten," John created 10 "Unceded Ancestors" portraits that portray the lives lost in the 1876 Circassian wreck off the coast of Mecox Bay in Bridgehampton.

"Unceded Ancestors" is an ongoing series of John's that has previously been exhibited by the Dennos Museum in the exhibit "Close to Home: Contemporary Anishinaabek Artists."

He explained that he hopes his artwork will continue to reflect complex ideas of what Indigenous futures and freedom looks like, as well as how the colonial present relates to everyday life.

Currently, John has a mural displayed at the Great Lakes Children's Museum in the interactive exhibit "I see you" — a year-long celebration of Anishinaabek art highlighted in a multi-sensory experience.

The mural encompasses much of what is important to John, detailing the past, present, and what could be for the future. Children and parents will be taken on a journey of the Anishinaabe migration story and the seven sacred stops to their final landing where the food grows on water (manoomin or wild rice). John said it was important to include current social justice issues Native Americans face, and imagery from traditional art and stories passed to him from his late grandfather, Raymond-baa.

"I am always thinking about if my art is arguing for our (Anishinaabek) people, if it services my community, if it challenges what we think or know about the Anishinaabek," John said.

His current and past work can be seen by visiting https://www.jamierjohn.com/

Report for America corps member and Indigenous affairs' reporter Sierra Clark's work is made possible by a partnership between the Record-Eagle and Report for America, a journalism service project founded by the nonprofit Ground Truth Project. Generous community support helps fund a local share of the Record-Eagle/RFA partnership. To support RFA reporters in Traverse City, go to www.record-eagle.com/rfa.