Hannah Claus: trade - treaty - territory

Exhibition runs January 17 to March 13, 2020. Opening reception (Central Gallery) and artist talk (RPL Film Theatre) Friday, January 17, 6:00 pm.

Additional Information

Curated by Jennifer Matotek, Director/Curator

The artworks of this exhibition bring together elements of trade, treaty and territory to demonstrate ideas of relationship, both Indigenous and colonial. Through sensory engagement with materials, light and shadow, her installations piece together an atemporal space critical of Western ideologies and systems.

Hannah Claus is an intermedia artist of English and Kanien’kehá:ka heritage who has been living and working in Tiohtià:ke [Montreal] since 2001. Within her practice, Claus engages with an Onkwehon:we epistemology to highlight ways of being in relationship with the world and those around us. She completed her undergraduate studies at the Ontario College of Art and Design (1998) and her Master’s of Fine Art at Concordia University (2004). Her work belongs to various public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the City of Montreal and the Department of Global Affairs. She is a recipient of the 2019 Eiteljorg fellowship. Current exhibitions include Àbadakone| Continuing Fire at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON), Blurring the Line at the Eiteljorg Museum (Indianapolis, IN) and Inaabiwin at the Ottawa Art Gallery (Ottawa, ON). Claus is a member of the Tyendinaga Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Ontario. www.hannahclaus.net

Hannah Claus, trade is ceremony (sun) (detail), 2019, copper ball headpins, wool blanket. Photo courtesy of artist.