Iqaluit artist sees ‘big demand’ for traditional Inuit tattoos
Kyra Kilabuk heading to Winnipeg for fully-booked free tattoo event later this month
Iqaluit tattoo artist Kyra Kilabuk is heading to Winnipeg for a weeklong event where she’ll be doing free traditional tattoos for Inuit clients. Run by the Manitoba Inuit Association, the event was fully booked within 30 minutes of its announcement, Kilabuk said. (Photo courtesy of Kyra Kilabuk)
Kyra Kilabuk says she never expected to become a sought-after tattoo artist when she started practising on synthetic skin a decade ago.
“I ordered a beginner kit and started it at home for myself just to practise for fun, with no intention of ever coming this far or imagining that it would become something like this,” the Iqaluit-based visual artist said in a phone interview.
“Once I became more comfortable and started tattooing myself and some close friends and family, I really noticed there’s a huge demand for it.”
Now, traditional Inuit tattoos, or kakiniit, as they’re known in Inuktitut, are one of Kilabuk’s specialties.
She is scheduled to take her talents to Winnipeg later this month for a weeklong tattooing event run by the Manitoba Inuit Association. From Feb. 11 to 17, she will provide traditional tattoos for Inuit in the city at no charge.
All available spots were booked up within 30 minutes of the announcement, she said, and the waitlist is now 100 names long.
Kilabuk thinks there’s such high demand because while cities like Winnipeg have numerous tattoo shops, it can be challenging for Inuit living in urban centres to find an Inuk tattooist who understands the cultural significance of the tattoos.
“The connection between what you’re getting and what it means to you is so much more authentic if you have somebody who understands it themselves,” Kilabuk said.
Most of Kilabuk’s clients are women, especially those seeking traditional tattoos, and the age range varies from teenagers to elders.
The kakiniit that Kilabuk’s clients get often weave in personal connections to family and community.
However, some placements and styles are particularly popular: facial tattoos, called tunniit, often positioned on the forehead or chin; delicate lines and dots under the eyebrows; tattoos across the back and chest to represent the amauti; and wrist, hand and finger tattoos.
Another style that is popular is birthing tattoos, generally tattooed on the upper thighs.
“Normally, this is done when a woman is going to give birth or they want to have a child,” Kilabuk said.
“We decorate their thighs beautifully and do symbols in the way that they want so that when their baby is born, the first thing that they’ll see is this art on their mother’s thighs.”
Kilabuk is a mom herself, but says she’s thinking of adding that special tattoo to her own collection to symbolize being a mother.
She said these days, she’s seeing more and more Inuit with traditional tattoos, especially younger generations who are keen to reconnect with this part of their culture.
“It really starts with understanding the history and background of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, because I feel like there’s so much taken away from us for generations,” Kilabuk said.
“I know there are some people who feel like it shouldn’t be done, or [they feel] they might have some backlash against them for whatever reasons, and that’s OK.”
But it’s beautiful and important to keep the practice alive because Inuit share their stories through art, she said. And, Kilabuk added, having tattoos in highly visit spots like the face and hands is a “big power statement.”
“Having traditional tattoos like this available for the public to see, right on our face, right on our hands, where they are very visible is a very big power statement.”
“It really comes down to revitalizing our culture and being proud of who we are,” Kilabuk said.
It’s my understanding that most traditional Inuit tattoos were done to signify an accomplishment or the ability to do something that traditionally women were supposed to learn how to do. Is that happening now in this revitalization? Especially with all this verbage about “understanding the cultural significance”, “reconnecting with culture”, “understanding the history and background”, and about them being a “big power statement”.
.
People are welcome to do whatever they want, but if you’re a teenager getting these traditional tattoos because you like the look, meanwhile not knowing how to do any of the things they were traditionally meant for, are you really revitalizing the culture?
What is old , is new again !
Great question, I’m surprised Nunatsiaq allowed such a ‘subversive’ comment up.
On a more positive note at least we are no longer being subjected to the emotive mega-narrative that tattoos were “once banned,” though no one ever explain who banned them and how such a ban was enforced.
Correct me if I’m wrong, I haven’t done much research about the topic, but I believe the decline of tattoos was due to the church’s influence?
What power did the church wield that was not given to it freely by its own subjects?
I have researched extensively the history of Christian missions in the Arctic, especially Anglican, and I have not found any evidence that missionaries spoke out against tattooing.
Not everything (history, perspectives, and experiences) exists in written word for you to research.
How can know what happened then? What do you call evidence in cases like that?
I think they are simply saying that when critically examining where information comes from, the written perspective and experiences are those of the Missionaries as that is the Western form of knowledge. Indigenous, which include the Inuit, there knowledge predominately came via oral traditions. Just because someone wrote stuff down 50-60 years ago, doesn’t necessarily means it represents everyone perspective and experience. Look up the definition of Critical thinking, and it will show you what the above comment is saying.
The problem with oral traditions is they are easily distorted over time. Of course written accounts might not be perfectly accurate or might only represent one perspective, but they are at least first hand and can hopefully be corroborated by reference to more than one account.
Funny thing I have noticed more of lately is that what is called traditional knowledge being whatever an indigenous persons says. Not terribly reliable and probably only barely ‘knowledge’ in some cases.
Parochial notions about ‘writing’ being the domain of one culture aside, Inuit have written down many of their own oral histories for the purpose of preservation. You might expect a commonly told story like this would have at least some corroborating evidence, yet there is none?
Apparently the first Anglican minister in our little sik-sik hole in Nunavut used to track down anyone not attending church and whip (literally) the heathens not attending.
Turned out he was waiting for a friend to die in England as he was in love with his wife.
Soon as he heard he’d (his friend) he rushed back to England…. y’know..”to comfort her”.
What are you going on with here?
This was banned through Christian missionaries, and the influence of the church, later Canada and their efforts to assimilate the Inuit and Indigenous populations of Canada, by removing most traditional ways and their culture.
I look forward to your supporting evidence.
Evidence? Love to see it…
Either way, the “church” has no force to ban anything except what people let it have.
“Either way, the “church” has no force to ban anything except what people let it have.” explain residential schools then if the church had no force to ban anything?
Do you have any evidence the Canadian state sponsored a ban on Inuit tattoos?
No, you don’t… because it didn’t happen.
You mean besides all the assimilation policies that the Government of Canada?
Most young Inuit ladies I’ve seen who have tattoos on their faces (Tunniit) say they are reclaiming their identity, decolonizing.
I have seen the old pictures online and in school, and when I asked Elders why the women had these tattoos or the metal headbands back then, The answers I received weren’t what the young ladies were given as reasons for getting them in this day and age.
Learn, practice, and retake your identity before you mark your face without understanding the real reason why the women of that time received these markings.
It seems to be common with mixed-race inuit, I suppose there is a need for them to connect with their inuit side more?
🔥 🥵 beautiful 💯
My ukiput had tattoos. ici ma ummpak is what they say. Colonialism settlers don’t like face tattoos
I don’t know what ‘settlers’ are do you mean non-Inuit Canadians? Regardless, my experience has been that opinions range from mild interest to indifference. If have never heard anyone express any ‘dislike’.
I will agree that there is widespread ignorance though, and that most people couldn’t tell the difference between Inuit tattoos and any other facial tattoos. I’d bet my last dime that most people have no idea what they might mean.
today they don’t even know what tattoos meant to have back then.
the tattooed was meant to have the most knowledge on women’s work, the more you have the more you know.
the most tattooed was the best wife due to knowledge.
Modernity always reshapes past cultures and ways, nothing is ever done the exact same, new generations adopt old things in New ways, my ancestors and fathers, mothers and uncles, aunts and grandparents were always proud when I could incorporate my culture into daily life in any way, any excuse to exist as an Inuk, didn’t have to be the exact same old ways, each generation tends to steer from what was considered “normal” or “proper” for so long, otherwise we’d be in caves and huts oonga boongas my dydes
I once lived next door to an old lady with tattoos and she would tell stories about how it was long ago. She was alert and active well into her 100’s and she would say that shamanism was the worst thing anyone could ever go through and not to be fascinated about it. The other thing she talked about was tattooing and she often said vehemently, that young women should not have anything to do with this deplorable custom as it involved bullying younger women into having it done long ago.
Let us not confuse cultural tradition with mere vanity.
Ask residential school survivors
“Big demand”?!! 😍