In <em>Onyionhwentsïio</em>, a portage trail conveys how back-bending weight can stem from life’s necessities as much as it can come from centuries of history. As a personal depiction of Métis identity, <em>Onyionhwentsïio</em> directly ties in with Renaud’s other work in the gallery, a second video installation that refers to a Catholic wampum made by Wendat women in 1678 that was, upon completion, gifted to the Chartres Cathedral where it is still preserved today. Despite the Latin lettering that denotes the object’s Christian character and reflects a certain cultural assimilation and submission to the Church, Renaud goes beyond the surface in order to identify the ancestral Wendat beliefs in the object and draw attention to its original use as a conduit for speech, political agreement and spiritual communication.

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