The Universe of the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg
Native Woodland artist Zhaawano Giizhik presents to you with a grateful heart the above digitized 23,622 x 23,622 inch (60 x 60 cm) pen and ink wall print, titled Anishinaabewaki ("The Universe of the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg"). It is part of a large collection of art prints, conceived in an ancient and most sacred Indigenous tradition of Anishinaabeg and Ininewak (Cree) storytellers.
Zhaawano's elegant line art tells his People's aadizookaanan, their legends and sacred stories — stories that were used as a teaching tool long before there were schools. The stories and narratives that are being shared through his prints are as strongly allegorical as in the old tradition of storytelling, yet they also contain lessons that reflect today’s world. Stylized in the powerful painting discipline of the Woodland School of Art, and carefully wrapped in ancient metaphors and age-old symbolism, each one of Zhaawano's art prints is a teaching mirror, instilling in the minds of those who make the effort to look in it a living sense of the unique worldview, dreams, and visions of the original inhabitants of the northern land of woods and lakes of Turtle Island.
The above image, a black-and-white pen and ink drawing done in the style of the Native Woodland painters, is an illustration to a glossary. The glossary, which you can find here, as well as the illustration itself demonstrate a cross section of Anishinaabe Izhinamowin: the traditional worldview of the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg, who for the past 2 millennia inhabit the North American Great Lakes area.
