A colorful new mural in downtown Duluth, Minnesota, is a potent declaration of the issues facing Native American women such as violence, sex trafficking, and environmental racism. Primarily, however, the enormous portrait of an Ojibwe woman is a symbol of resilience, according to supporters.
Painted on an exterior wall of the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO), and completed in August, the mural depicts an Ojibwe woman dressed in a red jingle dress and wearing a red bandana covering part of her face. AICHO is the only Native American shelter providing services to battered women and their children in the seven-county area surrounding Duluth. The organization also provides housing services for people suffering from long-term homelessness and transitional housing for survivors of domestic abuse.
Although vibrant and beautiful, the mural is far more than mere decoration. Titled “Ganawenjiige Onigam” (“Caring for Duluth” in the Ojibwe language), the painting is the first piece of public art in Duluth for and by indigenous people, according to AICHO Arts and Cultural Program Coordinator Moira Villiard.
[For more on this story by Mary Annette Pember, go to https://rewire.news/article/20...ce-duluth-minnesota/]
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