This Project Space Grant solo exhibition features multi-media artworks stemming from Annie Hejny’s solo circumnavigation of Lake Superior in 2023. Through the lens of personal experience, Annie explores the tension between Lake Superior’s seemingly pristine condition and the devastation of human impact. Abstracting rocks and water, she creates raw and disorienting acrylic paintings, steel wall sculptures, watercolors, and a video projection to highlight the entanglement of personal, political, and social aspects of this great lake.

The juxtaposition of hard and soft imagery reflects the dynamic connections Annie experienced while spending time on the lake — power, awe, intimacy, danger, grief. Humans have altered this highly-revered and significant waterscape, and inevitably, more changes lay ahead as shoreline development, invasive species, mining threats, and water temperatures continue to increase. The artist's care and interest in the stewardship of the environment inspired her solo journey and informed these new artworks. Aligning her first-hand experience with imaginative experimentation, Annie reckons with the past and finds hope in the possibilities ahead.