Joel Elgin. Athraigh Print Studio: 2020-07-26

Who is Getting Rich from COVID – 19 in Your Neighborhood?

Minnesota sulfide mining vs The Ojibwe.

Featured artist: Ojibwe artist Jim Denomie

Ojibwe artist Jim Denomie

Toast Series

Monoprint with oil pastel

Over 150,000 people have now died from COVID - 19. Our government officials don’t want you to see the numbers but we all know each number is/was a person. To personalize COVID, Athraigh Studio continues its effort to look beyond the numbers and into the art made by the people.

In the U.S. people of color are at greater risk than others. Among the most vulnerable are Native Americans. In today’s, exhibit detailing Who are the people COVID – 19 is Killing in Your Neighborhood?, Athraigh Studio brings you examples of the art of The Ojibwe and a few related details regarding their battle to save the earth and their people from the greed of the mining companies.

Have you ever been to the boundary waters in Northern Minnesota?

“At over 1.1 million acres, the BWCA contains more than 1,100 lakes, 1200 miles of canoe routes, a dozen rugged hiking trails and endless opportunities to explore and discover an adventure.”

https://www.friends-bwca.org/

In 2018, “… the Trump administration announced it would reinstate Twin Metals’ expired mineral leases at the edge of the Boundary Waters. Later that year, the Administration canceled a study into a 20-year moratorium on sulfide mining in parts of the Superior National Forest…”

https://www.friends-bwca.org/

This opened the door for Antofagasta, a Chilean-owned mining conglomerate who is working to open a sulfide mine at the edge of the Boundary Waters.

A quick couple of facts about sulfide mining:

“Because of its inherently polluting nature, the EPA has called hard-rock mining (or sulfide mining) the most toxic industry in the country.

In fact, there has never been a sulfide mine that has not polluted surrounding water sources.

Even worse, the pollution from sulfide mining is nearly impossible to contain and can last for hundreds, even thousands of years…”

https://www.friends-bwca.org/sulfide-mining

So, if all goes as planned for Antofagasta, you should expect to paddle your canoe through “acid mine drainage”: sulfuric acid and heavy metals such as mercury, lead, arsenic and other toxins.

Picture the pristine Boundary Waters and the people who originally called the location home:

“The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW)… Between 2.5 million and 10,000 years ago, glaciers from the last ice age shaped the lakes and rivers that the BWCAW became known for. Lakes and streams cover about 190,000 acres of its over-one-million-acre surface area.

Before European exploration and immigration, Dakota, Ojibwe, and other Indigenous people lived on the lands that now make up the BWCAW.”

https://www.mnopedia.org/place/boundary-waters-canoe-area-wilderness-bwcaw

The Ojibwe and the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe opposition to the mining threat has been met by calls to boycott their casinos and businesses by

“ … former Minnesota Senate Minority Leader and big-time sulfide mining supporter Tom Bakk and Ely Minnesota mayor, Chuck Novak, urging a wider boycott of Ojibwe businesses…”

http://www.timberjay.com/stories/mayor-accused-of-fanning-the-flames,16016

https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2020/02/the-ojibwe-have-every-right-to-oppose-copper-nickel-mining-in-northern-minnesota/

The Ojibwe and the Chippewa now struggle to contain COVID 19 with limited resources and to preserve the Boundary Waters. In recognition of their effort, Athraigh Studio would like to help make you familiar with the art created by Ojibwe artist Jim Denomie:

“Denomie, a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe, combines vivid hues and disarming humor in powerful narrative paintings that invite new perspectives on historical and contemporary events in Indigenous and American life…”

https://indigenous.boston/mcknight-names-ojibwe-artist-jim-denomie-2019-distinguished-artist