Nesewin – How to Breathe Underwater Sculpture

A steel silhouette rises against the Chicago sky, a testament to survival in the face of change. This, my friends, is Nesewin – How to Breathe Underwater. The Nesewin – How to Breathe Underwater sculpture is more than just a striking visual. It stands as a tribute to the resilience of both nature and culture. It reminds us of the enduring presence of the indigenous people of this land, the Three Fires Confederacy, whose language, Anishinaabe, gives us the word “Nesewin,” meaning “to breathe.” The sculpture’s design, inspired by the cross-section of a willow stem, might surprise you. It’s a magnified depiction of a structure called aerenchyma. These air spaces are the willow’s secret to thriving in wetlands. They allow the submerged roots to breathe. Artists Jamie Topper and Laura Miracle cleverly used aerenchyma as a metaphor for cultural adaptation and resilience, particularly the adaptation of indigenous people to shifting landscapes. Look closer, and you’ll see carvings on the sculpture’s surface representing the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers. These carvings speak to the intricate relationship between the waterways and the people who have navigated them for centuries. The Nesewin – How to Breathe Underwater stands within the Dunning Read Conservation Area, a pocket of nature reclaiming its space. This sculpture is part of a larger project called 4000N, a trail of art installations stretching along Irving Park Road. Each artwork, like pieces of a scattered story, unravels another layer of the connection between humanity and Chicago’s waterways. Nesewin, in its quiet strength, invites us to contemplate those connections, to remember the past, and to consider how we too must adapt and breathe in the face of change.