These four images are X mark signatures taken from the Government of Canada's electronic versions of the original numbered treaties 3, 6, 7 and 9. The title for the piece -- "Touch the Pen" -- comes from first-hand reports during the signing of some of the numbered treaties that some Indigenous signatories did not actually sign the treaties but where told only to "touch the pen" after an X had been made for them by representatives of the British Crown. I focus on the Xs in this piece (rather than the many other words and signatures in the treaties) as they represent the fantastical leap these documents embodied for the British Crown and the Government of Canada: that Indigenous signatories who did not necessarily know how to read or write English were brought to sign complex English legal documents that gave up (at least in the eyes of the British) rights to land. For more on the numbered treaties, go here.
This piece comes from my interest in the history and ongoingness of Canadian colonization and settlement and looking at, in relation to the treaties, the performance of acquiescence that the treaty documents entailed for the British Crown and the Government of Canada. These X images are based on the scanned electronic copies of the treaties kept by the Government of Canada and come from my research into the treaties for my book X: poems and antipoems.
Printed on 1/4 inch clear plexiglass with UV Flexoink. No framing is required as each piece mounts easily on the wall using the 3 M Command velcro strips (included). This is a limited edition print of 25; each piece is numbered.
These four images are X mark signatures taken from the Government of Canada's electronic versions of the original numbered treaties 3, 6, 7 and 9. The title for the piece -- "Touch the Pen" -- comes from first-hand reports during the signing of some of the numbered treaties that some Indigenous signatories did not actually sign the treaties but where told only to "touch the pen" after an X had been made for them by representatives of the British Crown. I focus on the Xs in this piece (rather than the many other words and signatures in the treaties) as they represent the fantastical leap these documents embodied for the British Crown and the Government of Canada: that Indigenous signatories who did not necessarily know how to read or write English were brought to sign complex English legal documents that gave up (at least in the eyes of the British) rights to land. For more on the numbered treaties, go here.
This piece comes from my interest in the history and ongoingness of Canadian colonization and settlement and looking at, in relation to the treaties, the performance of acquiescence that the treaty documents entailed for the British Crown and the Government of Canada. These X images are based on the scanned electronic copies of the treaties kept by the Government of Canada and come from my research into the treaties for my book X: poems and antipoems.
Printed on 1/4 inch clear plexiglass with UV Flexoink. No framing is required as each piece mounts easily on the wall using the 3 M Command velcro strips (included). This is a limited edition print of 25; each piece is numbered.