Treaty Girl exhibit at Longhouse Labs

Tuesday, October 29, 2024 9:30 am - 3:30 pm EDT (GMT -04:00) Tuesday, November 5, 2024 9:30 am - 3:30 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

The Longhouse Labs at the University of Waterloo is proud host Treaty Girl, an exhibit created by Courtney Skye (Mohawk Nation, Turtle Clan) and curated by Alex Jacobs-Blum (Cayuga Nation, Wolf Clan).

Running from October 1 to November 5, Treaty Girl is open to the public on Tuesdays from 9:30 - 3:30, or by appointment. To make an appointment, email Logan MacDonald.

From the artist statement

This exhibition is a love letter to Haudenosaunee girlhood. It is for Haudenosaunee girls who carry on our ways of being and knowing. Girls who inherit the responsibility to carry on the centuries old governance, land stewardship, and material culture. Girls who will become parents, teachers, healers, storytellers. Girls who are paying attention to the legacies we leave, the tools we hand to them, and the burdens colonialism has placed on their shoulders.

Rooted in Y2K and femme aesthetics, Treaty Girl reflects the nostalgia of my girlhood and explores Haudenosaunee worldview and the influences of western pop culture on our lives.

“Treaty Girl aims to make visible the many generations of girls who are embodying Treaty, survival, and joy.”

Detail of an artwork showing a row of bracelets mounted on a bright pink hide

Marking the 1784 Haldimand Treaty anniversary

On October 25, 1784, Sir Frederick Haldimand, the governor of Quebec, signed a decree that granted a tract of land to the Haudenosaunee, also known as the Six Nations Confederacy, in compensation for their alliance with British forces during the American Revolution. The Haldimand Tract is a strip of land that runs the length (and 10km on each side) of the Grand River from Lake Erie to its source, including lands in the Kitchener- Waterloo region.  The Haldimand Tract is central to ongoing land claims struggles. Throughout the late 1700s and 1800s, the Crown and Haudenosaunee disputed rights to the land title. Originally, 950,000 acres were set aside for the Haldimand Tract; today approximately 48,000 acres remain. Negotiations about the title to the Haldimand Tract still continue between the Canadian government and the Six Nations Confederacy.