HQ is proud to feature Native Canadian artist Jude Norris with “Gratitude Code Root Mural” her second solo show in the United States. The mural, a relief sculpture which dominates one of the walls of HQ, is a three dimensional map of cultural longevity and survival. As the title suggests the mural is composed of a large collection of red tree roots that protrude from the wall’s surface and reach outwards connecting and inter-connecting. Among many things, the woven networks established by the “Root Mural” parallel the underground systems of communication that have sprung up between the many geographically isolated reservations and communities which constitute the homeland of North American Indigenous people.

Of the many convalescing and colliding associations made in Jude Norris’ work, one of the most fascinating is in her use of computer language. Aside from the fact that it is written by hand and has ancient precedent, the binary code that is carefully inscribed onto the tendrils of the “Root Mural” is a clear reference to the vital role computers and the internet play in connecting otherwise distant First Nation communities. Although native cultures have always utilized current technological processes, Norris’ work is reflective of the way that recent developments in information technology have assisted in the continuity of otherwise eroding ideas and values. “Gratitude Code Root Mural” is thus a clear representation of the tenacity and resurgence of a people who have been rendered almost invisible by centuries of division and conquest.

Jude Norris is a Plains Cree multi-media artist from Alberta, Canada and currently based between Toronto and NYC. The layers of material and meaning in her work mirror the dichotomy of living as an indigenous person in a colonial context. Norris has exhibited widely in the United States and Canada including exhibitions at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian in New York City and the Art Gallery of Southern Okanagan in British Columbia, Canada. She has work in collections at the Royal Alberta Museum, Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian and the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, Canada.