4.10.2025
Last stop in the Musee de Beaux Arts: Indigenous Initiatives.
A catchy chant plays over the speaker. Gold heart on a pillow under glass. A blown up and altered postcard of a meeting between a tribal chief and a mounty. Superimposed word bubbles over their heads. The chief is saying ‘circle’; the Canadian says ‘square’. Title: 'Do Not Mistake Politeness for Agreement'.
In Traverse City the only safe way for a pedestrian to reach the lakefront from downtown is a short tunnel under the state highway. The passage is enhanced on each side by a mural, in panels, celebrating the stories and myths and symbols of the Anishinaabe peoples: wolves, fish, canoes, all rendered in a rich and dreamy style.
I walked through it almost every night of the three years I lived there and let me offer this warning: the tunnel is also host to massive untamed spider colonies and if you’re in the know you walk down the center to discourage them from dropping on your head.
Anyway the panel I always noticed first is a depiction of a child with kaleidoscopic ribbons extending from his mouth down the front of his torso.
I always wondered if the artist wasn't making a statement about the crassness and overindulgence of the tourists that overrun the area half the year. The tunnel itself is at the epicenter of the fairway for The National Cherry Festival in July, when the whole town is rerouted and rearranged, festooned with pop-up tents, Tilt-a-Whirls and zipper rides barely nailed down, a stage where the likes of Nelly and Jeff Foxworthy perform for sunburned partiers smashed on fruit wine.
Naturally, the festival scene includes little kids throwing up Sno Cones and elephant ears and other fried and frozen crap while their parents wander around all sweaty and stressed. That's where my mind went whenever I saw this piece.
I was really hoping it meant something else and not wanting to be irresponsible or taint his work with my cynicism, I reached out to the artist who painted it. His name is Bobby Magee Lopez and he does a lot of fantastic work all over the country.
Here's what he said about that particular image:
"This painting references an image that the Anishinaabe gave me. The juxtaposition of youthful innocence with the sharpness of the arrows represents the inevitable destiny that we all share. Him gnawing on his sleeve was inherent in the photo."
I'm grateful for his response, and glad to be wrong. I reckon there's a valuable lesson about art here and I'll let you figure that out for yourself.
Learn more about the mural here:
And see more of Bobby's awesome work here:
Bobby Magee Lopez https://www.bobbymageelopez.com/public