EXHIBIT PREVIEW
INUSIVUT: OUR WAY OF LIFE
June 14 to September 28
Glenbow Museum
The North is a dreary, perpetually frozen place that is void of life. That’s the commonly held myth. The truth is far more elusive to the vast majority of Canadians, who have never ventured to this part of the country.
In fact, the North is a colourful region with a varied landscape inhabited by thousands of dynamic and adaptable people. And Glenbow Museum has a new exhibition that intends to prove the point.
Inusivut: Our Way of Life is comprised of seven different exhibits that form a wide-ranging presentation on the circumpolar world, with an emphasis on the Canadian Arctic and Alaska.
"A lot of Southerners have the idea that the North is a white, formless expanse – it’s not," says Daryl Betenia, Glenbow project manager for Inusivut. "I think people will come away from this exhibition with some knowledge about the contemporary North."
A good starting point for that journey is the exhibit Arnait: Inuit Women’s Video, which features the work of five women based in Igloolik, Nunavut. Igloolik is a community of 1,200 people located on an island in the Baffin region. Home of filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner), this village has been the home base for a non-profit video training centre since 1991. Using state-of-the art video equipment, local women produce intimate and enlightening stories that take viewers inside their homes and communities.
Another impressive component of Inusivut is the exhibit Holman: Forty Years of Graphic Art, organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Holman is a village of 470 people located on the western side of Victoria Island in the Canadian Arctic. During the past 40 years, it has become an important hub of printmaking in the North. The Holman Artist Cooperative was formed in 1961 in response to a demise of traditional ways of earning a living, including trapping. Today, printmaking and crafts are the lifeblood of the people who, on average, still earn only $19,000 per year. Ninety exquisite prints and drawings represent the spirit and tenacity of a community that has adapted to changing times while preserving their stories and experiences in a most elegant way.
Occasionally Southerners have also become enraptured by the North. In this case, it’s the Lomen brothers. Their photographic works are on display in the exhibit Arctic Life. Brothers Carl, Harry, Alfred and Ralph moved from their home state of Minnesota to Nome, Alaska in the early 1900s to herd reindeer (caribou). These wildly successful entrepreneurs also became fascinated by their neighbours in the area, the Alaskan Inuit. Eventually, the brothers purchased a photographic studio in Nome and proceeded to document aspects of traditional culture that were all too rapidly disappearing. By hauling a large-format camera around the region and using glass plates for negatives, the Lomen brothers built an impressive archive of 30,000 images. Unfortunately, their studio burned to the ground in 1934 and only 5,000 of the glass plates were rescued from the burning building.
That collection was purchased in 1956 by Glenbow, and today they give us a glimpse into the clarity of their vision. These 60 crisp black-and-white photos – printed at Glenbow – are a mix of studio portraits and compelling documentary works that include reindeer-herding, dog-sled races and traditional Inuit ceremonies.
Other exhibits included in Inusivut are Cosmovision: Relationships and Beliefs, which includes a large collection of soapstone and whalebone carvings; Reindeer People, an exploration of the life of a third-generation reindeer herder; Making a Living, which probes issues concerning how the Inuit have adapted to a rapidly changing world in order to survive; and Seasons, which highlights the six distinct climatic periods of the year in the North and the impact those seasons have on the people that call this magnificent place home.
By relying heavily on its own collections and archives, Glenbow has successfully cast a light on the "True North." Inusivut capably dispels many of the unwarranted myths and stereotypes about this beautiful and often misunderstood region of the world. |
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