diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_object.h b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_object.h
index 561d6bd0a5c9..28b831c78c47 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_object.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_object.h
@@ -540,6 +540,7 @@ i915_gem_object_pin_to_display_plane(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj,
 
 void i915_gem_object_make_unshrinkable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj);
 void i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj);
+void __i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj);
 void i915_gem_object_make_purgeable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj);
 
 static inline bool cpu_write_needs_clflush(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj)
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_shrinker.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_shrinker.c
index 6b38e4414c5a..02175e8ad069 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_shrinker.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_shrinker.c
@@ -482,13 +482,12 @@ void i915_gem_object_make_unshrinkable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj)
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&i915->mm.obj_lock, flags);
 }
 
-static void __i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj,
-					      struct list_head *head)
+static void ___i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj,
+					       struct list_head *head)
 {
 	struct drm_i915_private *i915 = obj_to_i915(obj);
 	unsigned long flags;
 
-	GEM_BUG_ON(!i915_gem_object_has_pages(obj));
 	if (!i915_gem_object_is_shrinkable(obj))
 		return;
 
@@ -507,6 +506,21 @@ static void __i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj,
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&i915->mm.obj_lock, flags);
 }
 
+/**
+ * __i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable - Move the object to the tail of the
+ * shrinkable list. Objects on this list might be swapped out. Used with
+ * WILLNEED objects.
+ * @obj: The GEM object.
+ *
+ * DO NOT USE. This is intended to be called on very special objects that don't
+ * yet have mm.pages, but are guaranteed to have potentially reclaimable pages
+ * underneath.
+ */
+void __i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj)
+{
+	___i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(obj,
+					   &obj_to_i915(obj)->mm.shrink_list);
+}
 
 /**
  * i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable - Move the object to the tail of the
@@ -518,8 +532,8 @@ static void __i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj,
  */
 void i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj)
 {
-	__i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(obj,
-					  &obj_to_i915(obj)->mm.shrink_list);
+	GEM_BUG_ON(!i915_gem_object_has_pages(obj));
+	__i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(obj);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -533,6 +547,7 @@ void i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj)
  */
 void i915_gem_object_make_purgeable(struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj)
 {
-	__i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(obj,
-					  &obj_to_i915(obj)->mm.purge_list);
+	GEM_BUG_ON(!i915_gem_object_has_pages(obj));
+	___i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(obj,
+					   &obj_to_i915(obj)->mm.purge_list);
 }
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_ttm.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_ttm.c
index 08894f6a296b..dbf06a2af8bf 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_ttm.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gem/i915_gem_ttm.c
@@ -231,6 +231,15 @@ static int i915_ttm_tt_shmem_populate(struct ttm_device *bdev,
 	if (ttm->page_flags & TTM_PAGE_FLAG_SWAPPED)
 		ttm->page_flags &= ~TTM_PAGE_FLAG_SWAPPED;
 
+	/*
+	 * Even if we lack mm.pages for this object(which will be the case when
+	 * something is evicted to system memory by TTM), we still want to make
+	 * this object visible to the shrinker, since the underlying ttm_tt
+	 * still has the real shmem pages. When unpopulating the tt(possibly due
+	 * to shrinking) we hide it again from the shrinker.
+	 */
+	__i915_gem_object_make_shrinkable(obj);
+
 	i915_tt->cached_st = st;
 	return 0;
 
@@ -245,6 +254,8 @@ static void i915_ttm_tt_shmem_unpopulate(struct ttm_tt *ttm)
 	struct drm_i915_gem_object *obj = i915_tt->obj;
 	bool backup = i915_tt->backup;
 
+	i915_gem_object_make_unshrinkable(obj);
+
 	if (obj->mm.madv == I915_MADV_DONTNEED) {
 		obj->mm.dirty = false;
 		GEM_BUG_ON(backup);
