Enduring Kinship roundtable conversations

On the occasion of the major exhibition showcasing renowned black ash basket weavers, Kelly Church & Cherish Parrish: In Our Words, An Intergenerational Dialogue, Stamps Gallery is proud to present a day-long series of roundtable conversations entitled Enduring Kinship with Indigenous seed keepers, botanists, chefs, and artists. Free and open to the public. Spaces are limited; registration is recommended for each program.

Roundtable one: 10am–12pm
Plant-Kin Preservation & Rematriation 

Speakers: Roger LaBine (Lac Vieux Desert Band of Chippewa) is a traditional teacher and manoomin (wild rice) restorationist. / Kirstin “Kirby” Shoote (Tlingit) is a chef, urban farmer, and seedkeeper based in Detroit. / Kaya Deerinwater (Citizen Band of Potawatomi) is an ethnobotanist and grower who works in food sovereignty. / Camren Stott (Little Traverse Band of Ottawa Indians) is a chef and food justice advocate currently managing the Elder Meal Program for the Gun Lake Tribe. / Moderated by Shiloh Maples (Little River Band of Ottawa Indians), community organizer, seed keeper, storyteller, and U-M alumnus. Visit here to register for roundtable one.

This panel is organized in partnership with the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, University of Michigan. 

Roundtable two: 1–3pm
Indigenous Artists from the Great Lakes Combating Climate Change

Speakers: Kelly Church (Potawatomi/ Odawa/ Ojibwe) is a nationally recognized basket weaver and artist. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2018 National Heritage Fellowship, and is a 2024 US Artist Fellow. / Cherish Parrish (Potawatomi/ Odawa) is an award-winning black ash basket weaver and birch bark biter. / Courtney Leonard (Shinnecock) is an artist and filmmaker. Her work explores the concept of “breach,” focusing on the intersection of water, whales, and material sustainability, and documenting cultural and environmental histories. / Jason Wesaw (Potawatomi), is a multi-disciplinary artist, creating works that are informed by the land and relate stories that are rooted in place and the acknowledgement of spirit. / Moderated by Blaire Morseau, a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and Assistant Professor in the Religious Studies department at Michigan State University where she also teaches in American Indian and Indigenous Studies. Her research interests are in Indigenous science fiction and futurisms, traditional cultural and ecological knowledge, digital heritage, and Native counter-mapping. Visit here to register for roundtable two.

Curatorial walkthrough: 3–4pm
An exhibition tour with exhibition curator & Stamps Gallery Director, Srimoyee Mitra

Exhibition
Kelly Church & Cherish Parrish: In Our Words, An Intergenerational Dialogue
On view through December 7, 2024

Kelly Church & Cherish Parrish: In Our Words, An Intergenerational Dialogue is a major exhibition that centers the subjectivities of two contemporary Indigenous artists whose practices have sustained and bolstered the relevance of the age-old Anishinaabe practice of black ash basket-making in the 21st century. Church and Parrish explore the themes of Native women’s labor as carriers of culture, the legacy of boarding schools, treaties and stories from ancestors who walked on through their work. The exhibition offers an incisive critique of the settler-colonial paradigm of systemic erasure and assimilation and pays homage to the inherited strength, resilience, fortitude, and bravery that empowered Indigenous communities to sustain and bolster their cultures, languages, and art practices for generations.

Curated by Srimoyee Mitra with Curatorial Assistant Zoi Crampton.

This exhibition and its associated programs are generously funded by Michigan Humanities and U-M Arts Initiative for generously supporting the exhibition and programs.