Nunavimmiut to learn curator’s trade at French museum

ODILE NELSON

Avataq is sending four Nunavimmiut to a renown French museum to learn the art of curatorship.

The venture is a partnership between Nunavik’s cultural institute and the Museum of Natural History in Lyon, France. It was designed to complement the Lyon museum’s new exhibit on Inuit art and culture, Inuit, quand la parole prend forme.

The display, which opened Dec. 17, presents the work of 61 Inuit artists from the Canadian Arctic, as well as various Inuit artifacts.

Sylvie Côté Chew, coordinator of Avataq’s document centre, said the museum program meets the needs of both cultural organizations. It furthers Avataq’s goal of developing knowledge of curatorship among Nunavimmiut and it allows the Lyon museum to mark a change in its display style.

Lyon’s Museum of Natural History is reorganizing into two new facilities. One, scheduled to open in 2006, will be dedicated to science. The other, a museum of culture and civilization, will open in 2004.

The Inuit exhibit is meant to give visitors an idea of the displays they can expect at the new museum of culture.

“This exhibit, it’s really a collector’s view of Inuit sculpture and culture,” said Côté Chew.

“There’s a lot about carvings and spirituality. But it’s not the Inuit themselves who presented what aspects they wanted. The organizers wanted more about culture, real life and people [so they asked for Inuit participation].”

The program is divided into two sessions. One begins on Jan. 28 and the other is tentatively scheduled for May.

Two participants will attend each session. They will spend one week in Lyon, guiding visitors through the art exhibit and speaking on of Inuit society. They will also be introduced to museum organization and display fundamentals such as how to display, register and handle artifacts.

Lydia Etok, originally from Kangiasualujjuaq, will attend the first session.

Etok, who worked as a museum guide for an Avataq exhibit in Montreal last summer, said her desire to represent Nunavik at the Lyon museum is a natural extension of her cultural pride.

It is essential that Inuit participate more in exhibitions on their culture, she said, so others develop an accurate picture of Inuit.

“First things first — this is going to be a learning experience for me. But if I see those who talk about Inuit culture or their traditions, if I see it’s not entirely true I can be very opinionated. I’ll correct them,” Etok said. “There’s a lot of alcoholism or drug use in the North or there’s a lot of suicide but with that — getting only a general idea and then making even bigger general assumptions from that — I’m certainly going to say something.”

Louis Gagnon, curator for Avataq’s museum program, said he and the Lyon museum’s curators hold no illusions that the brief program, or the exhibit itself, will dissolve all misconceptions of Inuit culture.

But he said such initiatives are an integral part of preserving Inuit culture.

“The museum believes and we believe too that it will be a good thing for these Inuit to bring back an idea of how things are done over there in these big museums in France,” Gagnon said. “I’m not saying they will be the next generation of curators from the North. But they will be people who have more interest in the transmission and conservation of culture.”

The Inuit art exhibit continues at the Lyon museum until May 18. It will then travel to museums across Europe.

The Nunavik artists represented in the exhibit include Davidlaluk Amitruq and Isaac Augiak of Puvirnituq; Makusi Annutak, Jimmy Arnamissak, Isa Aupalukta, Charlie Inukpuk, Johnny Inukpuk and Isa Oomayoualook of Inukjuak; Jimmy Iqaluq and Kupapik Ningeocheak of Sanikiluaq; Mattiusi Iyailuk of Ivujivik and Peter Morgan of Kangiqsualujjuaq.