Grant strengthens relationship between neighboring clinics

Duluth artist Sam Zimmerman, a Grand Portage descendent, painted this picture for the Equity in Lactation project between Sawtooth Mountain Clinic and Grand Portage Health Services. Photo courtesy of Hartley Acero

Grand Portage and Sawtooth Mountain Clinic WIC, recognizing the importance of diversity in representation and meaning making in breastfeeding promotion, collaborated on the Equity in Lactation grant to commission Sam Zimmerman, Grand Portage descendant and Duluth-based artist, to create a work that would engage with breastfeeding. The grant resulted in a series of two original sister paintings, The Way a Mother Hugs Us / Ezhi-gikininjiininang gigashiminaan, which is on display at the Grand Portage Health Services Clinic, and now Doodems Tiginaagan / Ojibwe Clans Cradleboard, newly welcomed to Sawtooth Mountain Clinic. These paintings, which depict a breastfeeding dyad and an infant secure in its traditional Ojibwe cradleboard, elicit concepts of nurturance, belonging, closeness, and guardianship in a broader sense, while depicting traditional practices that support breastfeeding, such as baby-wearing.

The grant created an opportunity to strengthen relationships between the neighboring clinics of Grand Portage Health Services and Sawtooth Mountain Clinic, a connection symbolically asserted by the continuous presence of these two sister paintings at each of our clinics. Patients and staff that may travel from one clinic to the other may feel an additional layer of belonging, interconnectedness, and continuity of care.

What began as a plan for temporary installation became, through the generosity of the artist, a permanent public installation of the two paintings, ensuring that exposure to the meaning they create around breastfeeding will continue to grow.

Those interested in viewing the paintings are encouraged to make their routine preventative and care appointments, or see them online sawtoothmountainclinic.org/about/art-gallery.