Instagram story viewer> @bigmanmidwest> Posts

Niki Williams

@bigmanmidwest

3K

followers

5942

following

In Detroit now

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

I am happy to share with you all my newest book! Amnesia Almanac, Drawings 2018-2025 published by @snorting_graphite (which is to say self published).

For me, drawing is a highly meditative practice, a time to slow down and process my anxieties, fantasies, dreams and fears in order to integrate memories and experiences towards a healthy consciousness. This book holds seven years of work, spanning themes including religion, politics, conspiracy, the pandemic, sex, friendship, family and leisure.

It includes a beautifully written forward from @josephkeckler and a conversation between @_sam_gulliver_ and I.

6”x8.25”
Perfect bound, full color, 208 pages
$30 + $10 shipping

DM me for purchase, all purchases will come with a special risograph print while supplies last! by @bigmanmidwest

84

7

6 months ago

Preorder now begins for my first book!

“Within Wheel” an idiosyncratic vision of the Detroit Metropolitan Region, through which one encounters various characters, landscapes, phenomenon and sculptures for the camera. The images revolve between transcendence and banality, striving to become hyper-real through careful lighting.

The title references the importance of the wheel in the region; automobiles, the original “spoked” layout of Detroit, and the constant talk of urban decline and renewal. For me, as a creator, it is a reminder that we exist within a cyclical existence and have the power to reference past and future within the present.

These images, with few exceptions, were created between 2022-2024 in Detroit, Michigan.

Specs:
Hardcover, with Matte finish
128 pages
8.5x11 inches
Full color, 100lb satin paper
Self published
Edition of 100

$50 - Dm me to reserve yours! taken in Detroit, Michigan by @bigmanmidwest

291

24

2 years ago

Some recent pix of my musically inclined friend @jeffffff_garcia

I got a few weeks left here in Detroit, if you would like some portraits made DM me? by @bigmanmidwest

81

5

16 days ago

$5.99 SPECIAL OUT NOW

From the mind of @bigmanmidwest with help from @karlbake

Check it out on YouTube now!! by @bigmanmidwest

208

30

a month ago

It’s finally here…many years in the making, the @declinermusic debut LP is out now on @texture_detroit !!!

Words can’t explain how good it feels to have this out in the world. Shout out to @sts__sts__sts and @time_barnett for being my brothers in music and persevering together. Thank you @__green__river__haze__ @texture_detroit for believing in us and caring so much about the music. Thank you @ileensan for your beautiful words and design. Thank you @koltay for a great hang recording the vocals, and thank you to @bigmanmidwest and @karlbake for this sick video we’re about to drop at 5pm :)

Lastly, thank you to the fans and supporters. We love you and we are honored to be able to make music in this beautiful city.

Come celebrate tonight for the @thrg_detroit party, and tomorrow at the @texture_detroit party. We won’t be playing but they’ll have some test presses for sale before the official vinyls are in!!

Much love,

Rub by @bigmanmidwest

353

73

a month ago

The Hamtramck Labor Day Festival the world in four blocks... taken in Hamtramck Labor Day Festival by @bigmanmidwest

244

8

a month ago

Happy 33 to my sweet summer. She’s got the most luminous soul and beauty. She plumbs the depths of everything, from caves to audio codecs. I’m really grateful to be in her orbit and to enjoy life beside her. Love you @summerliketheseasonmusic by @bigmanmidwest

184

9

2 months ago

dad retrieving cold beverage 🍾 by @bigmanmidwest

98

6

2 months ago

The Civil War Muster in Jackson, Michigan. Two nights and three days of wearing wool and cookin’ old school with your crew, which you call your battalion, filled with people you may or may not see in everyday life. Get together, have a secret beer in your metal mug, shoot some blanks and reenact the battle of Shiloh. No one cares if you start to smell, even at the All American Military Ball, after all it’s the 1860s and we are at war with ourselves. No matter if your a damn yankee or a traitor greyback, we are gathering in the saloon this evening to place a few bets. Sound familiar? taken in Cascades Falls, Jackson by @bigmanmidwest

143

8

2 months ago

Still processing the implications of the so-called “christian crusade” at Dearborn’s Henry Ford Centennial Library on Tuesday…  Questions linger such as: Why did the police kettle protestors on the lawn on an already closed Michigan Road with Clydesdales? Why did a battalion of storm troopers create a protected barrier for Jake Lang to speak from? (He hid in the library while everyone else argued and fought in front of it.)  The crowd control tactics were strange to say the least.  Seeing how most verbal altercations were either experienced through or performed for a phone camera, I am thinking hard about an Adam Curtis quote, “Others will look back at us in a hundred years’ time and say that our conformity was self-expression, that everyone believed that the most important part of life was self-expression, which is ridiculous because if everyone is self-expressive, what’s the point?” taken in Dearborn Public Library by @bigmanmidwest

188

4

2 months ago

Chaos and spectacle at the “christian crusade” demonstration at a Dearborn, MI, City Council meeting organized by January 6 participant Jake Lang. Lang came to antagonize and did so from behind the protection of an army of publicly funded storm troopers, who blasted out of the Henry Ford Centennial Library just after he arrived to the demonstration.

I witnessed multiple arrests, mainly of Arab people, one of whom was sweetly asking everyone no matter what brought them if they wanted snacks or water. She was arrested, seemingly for being in Lang’s orbit as the storm troopers rolled out. Another woman was knocked over and injured her ankle. There were fights which the police intervened in, sometimes escorting people away from each other, sometimes making arrests. Nazis chanted free Palestine and Arab teens joined them exclaiming that Arabs and whites should unite against Israel.

A blonde man nearly cried as he talked about Jesus and then declared he hated Palestinians, he was later questioned by an Arab teen “where was Jesus from?”. He fell silent and looked as if he was perhaps contemplating what brought him there.

A mother told her children, “we don’t support violence”, to which her teenage son replied “but I do support violence mom.”

People dressed in the American flag hollered about deporting Muslims or any foreigner, in the name of Jesus. It was a bacchanalia of anger, experienced by many through their phones, live-streamed with the intention to get viral clips. taken in Dearborn Public Library by @bigmanmidwest

2k

155

2 months ago

We passed through Ely, Nevada when we were driving home from San Francisco. It was on fire and at near 0% containment on August 3rd. I read on the news that 100 personnel were on the scene. Helicopters were scooping water from a nearby lake and kids where blasting off wedges at the local skatepark. We bought groceries and briefly met a crew of fire fighters who were rushing to buy groceries to take back in to the valley. It was sunset and they had been fighting since dawn. The fire took 10 days to contain, and burned close to 9000 acres nine miles south of Ely in White Pine County. taken in Ely, Nevada by @bigmanmidwest

71

3

2 months ago