Winning entry c Indigenous A
Hannah Claus showcases her proposal, which consists of wampum belts made of translucent purple coloured and frosted clear acrylic sheets and hung vertically from the ceiling.
“Words that are lasting,” an artwork by Montreal (Tiohtià:ke) visual artist Hannah Claus that is visually stunning and infused with historical symbolism, has emerged as the winning entry in the first-ever Indigenous Art Commission competition at Queen’s Law. That initiative is an important element of the law school’s multifaceted response to the Calls to Action of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Claus’s vision involves a suspended art installation based on wampum belts that will 18 QUEEN’S LAW REPORTS ONLINE
hang from the ceiling in the law school’s atrium airy expanse. Made from translucent purplecoloured and frosted clear acrylic sheets, these laser-cut forms will interplay with the natural light that floods the atrium. “I’m elated to have my project chosen as the artwork,” says Claus. “Wampum belts are mnemonic aids utilized by the Haudenosaunee and other Indigenous peoples within oral nation-tonation agreements. They represent legal documents as reflected in this distinct worldview. It seems a
