For as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the river flows (2018) and waawiindmawaa – promise (to promise something to somebody) (2022) by Barry Ace and collaborators, installation in Zurich.

Fundamental human rights documents have many virtues, but a poetic turn of phrase is rarely among them. In a new article at Art Rights Truth ("Making Art From A Human Rights Standard"), Brian Phillips analyses the practice of Anishinaabe artist Barry Ace to argue that through arts-based consciousness raising and collaborative creation, it is possible for human rights standards to find compelling new lives as works of art.

The article explores two recent collaborative projects by Ace. The first was at University of Windsor in 2018. Ace proposed a collaborative work that would coalesce a very complex legal document, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s – Calls to Action (download here) into a single work of art taking the form of an 11.5 metre long contemporary wampum belt. Each participant was asked to confirm their participation by first surrendering their rights to the work by signing a witnessed document and symbolically accepting one dollar in exchange. The surrender was a wry reference to the treaty making process in Canada, and also reflected in the work’s title, For as long as the sun shines, grass grows and water flows.

As long as the sun shines, grass grows and water flows (detail), 2018, Barry Ace and collaborators

Handwriting on vellum paper from As long as the sun shines, grass grows and water flows

The second, site-specific work, was created for the exhibition " wāwīndamaw – promise" at the Nordamerika Native Museum (NONAM) in Zurich, Switzerland, an extension of the 2018 collaborative work. The new for the exhibition is based on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). While the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) – Calls to Action document is applicable within Canada, UNDRIP is an international instrument that calls for the international recognition of Indigenous treaty rights by the United Nations and signatory countries. The new work waawiindmawaa – promise (to promise something to somebody) consists of three floor pottery vessels that rest on top of three mounds of sand mixed with cedar, sage and tobacco.

waawiindmawaa – promise (to promise something to somebody), 2022, Barry Ace and collaborators

Read further at Barry Ace's site about the Art + Law collaboration at UWindsor and the extension of the project for the NONAM exhibition in Switzerland.