Chanelle Gallagher
aanakwadookwe // cloud woman self-portrait: what i wear to burn, what i wear to resist, 2026
50 ceramic tiles, screen-printing, underglaze, and wood-fired, grout, cedar frame
44 x 23 x 2 1/2 in
111.8 x 58.4 x 6.3 cm
111.8 x 58.4 x 6.3 cm
Copyright Chanelle Gallagher, photo courtesy the artist
CHANELLE GALLAGHER (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) aanakwadookwe // cloud woman self-portrait: what i wear to burn, what i wear to resist, 2026 50 screen-printed, underglazed, and wood-fired ceramic tiles,...
CHANELLE GALLAGHER (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe)
aanakwadookwe // cloud woman self-portrait: what i wear to burn, what i wear to resist, 2026
50 screen-printed, underglazed, and wood-fired ceramic tiles, grout, cedar
aanakwadookwe // cloud woman considers the body and protection across making and resistance. The garments I wear while wood-firing that shield me from heat and flame are the same garments I wear when I show up in the streets to resist a violent state. In both spaces, the body is exposed to risk. Protection becomes a continuous practice, shaping how I move through the world and how I remain accountable to my community.
For me, making is not separate from resistance. Both wood-firing and resistance ask the body to endure, stay present, and work in relation to others while weathering the elements. During recent immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis, as members of my community were detained, I showed up in these same layers to protect against cold, against chemical agents, and to stand alongside others.
The work is composed of individual tiles that come together into a larger composition, drawing on Indigenous geometries to speak to protection, interdependence, and collective resistance.
—Chanelle Gallagher
aanakwadookwe // cloud woman self-portrait: what i wear to burn, what i wear to resist, 2026
50 screen-printed, underglazed, and wood-fired ceramic tiles, grout, cedar
aanakwadookwe // cloud woman considers the body and protection across making and resistance. The garments I wear while wood-firing that shield me from heat and flame are the same garments I wear when I show up in the streets to resist a violent state. In both spaces, the body is exposed to risk. Protection becomes a continuous practice, shaping how I move through the world and how I remain accountable to my community.
For me, making is not separate from resistance. Both wood-firing and resistance ask the body to endure, stay present, and work in relation to others while weathering the elements. During recent immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis, as members of my community were detained, I showed up in these same layers to protect against cold, against chemical agents, and to stand alongside others.
The work is composed of individual tiles that come together into a larger composition, drawing on Indigenous geometries to speak to protection, interdependence, and collective resistance.
—Chanelle Gallagher
