Photo: Arviat youth attend Inuit Studies Conf.

Jordan Konek of the Nanisiniq Arviat History Project filming Yup’ik elders sewing at last week’s 18th Inuit Studies conference in Washington D.C.. The Nanisiniq team is working with Yup’ik youth Abby Moses of the Yup’ik elders project to share their approaches to digital media storytelling. The research team of Inuit youth from Arviat also screened the film “Nanisiniq” to an audience of conference-goers. Hosted by Curtis Konek, Amy Owingayak and Jordan Konek, the première of the film drew a large crowd at the Smithsonian Institution. The film documents two years of travel and work by the research team for the Arviat Nanisiniq history project as they interviewed elders in Arviat and traveled to the U.N. climate change conference in Durban, South Africa. Asked how she felt about the film, a member of the audience said “it moved me to tears to understand how much these young people overcame to do this work and to see what a great job they have done of representing their history and culture.” The conference, which drew researchers from Greenland, Russia, Alaska and Canada, wrapped up this past weekend. (PHOTO COURTESY OF NANISINIQ)