Northern MN: A Fashion Show in the Woods

At a potluck in the woods of Aitken County (more on that to come), Anishinaabe artist Annie Humphrey narrated a unique fashion show. She started by sharing the story of Chile’s Atacama Desert, which is the dumping ground for about 60,000 tons of unsold fast fashion yearly, turning it into a “fast fashion cemetery” visible from space. Activists and organizations like Desierto Vestido have staged runway shows among the trash, dressing models in discarded clothing to expose the industry’s environmental toll.

For Humphrey’s fashion show, she told the story of the village of women that keep communities going — and offered depictions of those roles. The group was part of the Fire in the Village arts and cultural organizing collective of Native and rural spaces in northern Minnesota.

The collective is traveling around the state. Tuesday they were with the American Indian Community Housing Organization. Wednesday they were at the All Saints Indian Mission. Find tour details here. 

Fire starter

Group leader

Village liaison

Mediator

Medicine maker

Mender

Migration scout

Recon scout

Seed keeper

Shelter builder