“Maamawi” (mom-ah-wé) is the Ojibwe word for “together,” and addresses our shared humanity. The paintings and films in this exhibition speak to ideas of connectedness to the land, life, and people. Whether experienced together or alone, the issues presented by Thunder are the inescapable connections of society, shared by everyone.
Jonathan Thunder grew up in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota region. He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and studied visual effects and motion graphics at the Art Institute International in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His work has appeared in local, regional, and national exhibitions, and his short films have earned several awards. Most recently, Thunder became the first recipient of the Jim Denomie Memorial Scholarship in recognition of his commitment to excellence in art-making and community engagement. He is also a 2020 recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award for painting. His paintings and films were included in the 2020-2021 exhibition The Art of People: Contemporary Anishinaabe Artists organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art and Grand Valley State University Art Gallery (with guest curator Jason Quigno).