Emma Hassencahl-Perley, White Flag, 2015

The choice to obscure, but not fully erase, the red sections of the flag is central to the work’s meaning. In Wolastoqey visual systems, red holds sacred significance, associated with life, blood, and resilience. Across her practice, Hassencahl-Perley returns consistently to the instruments of colonial legislation—and the Canadian flag itself—as material for transformation rather than symbols of passive erasure. The visual tension between the whiteness of paper and the vitality of red mirrors the larger tension between assimilation and survival. The Indian Act may cover, but it cannot fully extinguish Indigenous ways of being.

Hassencahl-Perley also embeds double-curve motifs, a key element of Wolastoqey design, within the shredded layers. These subtle yet powerful marks signal cultural continuity, gesturing to the artist’s lineage of cultural revitalization led by her great-grandmother Marjorie Perley. In this sense, White Flag is about systemic critique as well as cultural reclamation. The work reaffirms Indigenous sovereignty through visual knowledge, asserting that Indigenous law and aesthetics persist alongside—and against—the imposed structures of Canadian governance.

The piece also reframes the Canadian flag itself. Typically a symbol of unity and pride, here, it becomes a contested ground, revealing the legal and cultural violence embedded within the national fabric. Rather than waving freely, the flag is immobilized, heavy with history. Its whiteness recalls silence, denial, and the false neutrality of state narratives, while its altered surfaces invite viewers to confront the truths buried beneath official symbols.

White Flag holds grief and hope in equal tension. It acknowledges the cultural destruction wrought by colonial legislation while affirming the endurance of Indigenous knowledge and design. Hassencahl-Perley’s gesture is not one of surrender but of reclamation, a demand that Canada recognize the truths inscribed within its own history and an insistence that Indigenous Nations will continue to shine through.