Land & Water

In today’s world, nature is treated as a commodity, but its true value lies elsewhere

- Michael Belmore

“The North American landscape, especially its watersheds, continues to be shaped by our divergent tendencies to that of nature. Rivers have been dammed, streams redirected and wetlands drained all in order to better satisfy the demands of Western society. Over the past few years, my practise has focused primarily on stone carving and the traditional metal smithing technique of chasing and repoussé. Through the arduous process of hammering copper, I have continued to map out waterways through calculated and miscalculated blows.”

I have been a full-time practising artist since graduating from the Ontario College of Art in 1994. Over the years, I have built a substantial body of work that has employed a variety of materials and processes that at times may seem disjointed, yet, the reality is that when viewed as a whole, my work and processes speak about the environment—about land and water—and what it is to be Anishinaabeg.