Fantastic free art gallery located at the heart of the University of Michigan campus. A great way to spend an afternoon is just pursuing the spaces of this gorgeous gallery.

There are stairs connecting the various floors but there are also elevators and everything is disability accessible. Bathrooms are located on the very bottom floor (don’t be fooled by the closet area next to the coat racks at check-in!) This is also where the Study Cases are located and, in my opinion, some of the best artwork in the gallery: the Inuit carvings are striking and hauntingly beautiful.

I only had a very short time to visit, a little over an hour, but I was able to see quite a bit in that time. I focused my attention on the Chinese and Korean art galleries, as well as the Modern and Contemporary Art. I was pleasantly surprised to find FOUR Picassos on display!

My favorite exhibition was UMMA’s Vertical Gallery, with art by Andrea Carlson.

In Andrea Carlson’s Future Cache, a 40-foot-tall memorial wall towers over visitors, commemorating the Cheboiganing (Burt Lake) Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians who were violently burned from their land in Northern Michigan on October 15, 1900. Written across the walls above and around the memorial, a statement proclaims Anishinaabe rights to the land we stand on: “You are on Anishinaabe Land.” To say I was thrilled to see Ojibwe written on a huge vertical wall in the middle of a public space is an understatement!

Presented alongside the typography are paintings of imagined decolonized landscapes and a symbolic cache of provisions. This installation challenges visitors to reflect on how they have benefited from the legacies of colonization, to consider where they stand, and where to go from here. It also seeks to foster a sense of belonging for displaced Indigenous peoples fighting for restitution.

I definitely recommend everyone come visit this exhibition: on view from now until June 2024.