HEAR US, by Sheila Levrant de Bretteville and Susan Sellers, is the centerpiece of the State House Women's Leadership Project. The Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities contracted with Urban Arts, Inc. to oversee the artist selection process. A committee of five arts professionals chose the proposal submitted by the team of Sheila de Bretteville and Susan Sellers. deBretteville and Sellers called their piece HEAR US. It would "introduce viewers to the individual honorees as revealed in their words and images. It also presents the six women as a group linked by courage, perseverance, and commitment to active participation in public life." [Click here to read their full statement.] HEAR US was created over a period of a year. Completed in the fall of 1999, it was permanently installed in the State House, marking a major milestone in the effort to write women back into history.