Michi Gami, September

“I lived on Lake Michigan in northern Michigan for a year and a half,” says Elle MacLaren. “It’s the best kept secret in the world.” In Michi Gami, September, she abstracts the white dunes, turquoise water, and nostalgic rumblings of autumn. “Corrugated cardboard is perfect for ripples in the sand and reminds me of planked walls in the cottages,” she says. MacLaren is interested in capturing the “feeling of memories” as they are fixed to place and time. Using the Algonquin word Michi Gami to reference the lake’s significance over time, she employs a color scheme to represent the shifting tide of September.