Aabijijiwan / Ukeyat yanalleh, It Flows Continuously

Karen Goulet and Monique Verdin

On view January 27 - July 7, 2024

"Aabijijiwan / Ukeyat yanalleh," which translates to "It Flows Continuously" in Ojibwe and Houma, is a collaborative exhibition by multimedia artists Karen Goulet (Ojibwe) and Monique Verdin (Houma). These two artists are bound by a common river, united by the Mississippi or Misi-ziibi (“Big River” in Ojibwe), originating in the north and remembered as Misha sipokni “(Older than Time'' in Chata) in the coastal territories of the southern Delta, where the bayous of Turtle Island meet the sea. Goulet and Verdin use sculpture, textiles, photographs, collages, and video to illuminate the myriad aspects that connect personal memories and curiosities, seasonal rituals, and the witnessing of the changes inherent in the complex tapestry of Indigenous and colonial histories interwoven within the watershed they both inhabit.

Karen Goulet

Karen E. Goulet (b.1959 ), is a White Earth Ojibwe Band member and is also from Métis, and Finnish people. She is a practicing visual artist, poet, educator, and community sculptor. Water is her first love, first memories, and her medicine. Water permeates her narratives with waterways serving as the vital connection to family and cultural roots. She serves as the Miikanan Gallery Program Director at the Watermark Art Center in Bemidji, Minnesota, and is the recipient of grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Waterers Fellowship, and the Region 2 Arts Council. Karen also played a pivotal role as a pilot artist for the Big River Continuum Project. Her artistic focus revolves around community, environment, and the preservation of culture. Throughout her life, Karen has dedicated both her professional and personal endeavors to the creation, sharing, and encouragement of artistic practice. 

Monique Verdin

Monique Verdin is an transdisciplinary artist and storyteller who documents the complex relationship between environment, culture, and climate in southeast Louisiana. She is a citizen of the Houma Nation, director of The Land Memory Bank & Seed Exchange and is supporting the Okla Hina Ikhish Holo (People of the Sacred Medicine Trail), a network of Indigenous gardeners, as the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network's Gulf South food and medicine sovereignty program manager. Monique is co-producer of the documentary My Louisiana Love and her work has been included in a variety of environmentally inspired projects, including Cry You One multi platform performance that utilizes the unique music and stories of Louisiana to inspire connections between people working to steward the natural world wherever they live, Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas (University of California Press), and the collaborative book Return to Yakni Chitto: Houma Migrations (University of New Orleans Press).

Photo Credit: Akasha Rabut