Nunavut’s arts future not very rosy

Thank-you very much for a good Nunavut Arts Festival, held in Rankin Inlet, June 18-25, 2004.

I attended as a Qallunaaq artist, exhibiting monochrome photographic prints and attending the festival seminars and AGM, as well as the discussion on the proposed Nunavut arts and crafts five-year business plan.

Economic Development Minister David Simailak opened the Nunavut Arts Festival with a short speech about an impressive 30- to 100-million dollar arts industry in Nunavut.

However, throughout the festival, Nunavut’s arts future didn’t look very rosy, and the carving trade appears to be in for decline or at least set to continue its no-growth well into the future.

The good thing is that carvers were speaking up at each seminar. Saila Kipanek of Iqaluit encouraged everyone to speak up and say his or her artist issues. But it didn’t look like as if anyone was recording these golden information nuggets at the seminars.

“We are given very little time to teach in schools.”

“Sales?”

“Where are the youth?”

“Why is no recognition being given to master Inuit carvers and artists in our area or other areas who will soon or have already passed on?”

“There is no stone.”

Unfortunately, the lack of carving stone dates back to the 1998 Nunavut carvers conference in Cape Dorset. Theresie Tungilik summed it up with her 1998 speech given at the carvers conference, stressing that Nunavummiut take ownership of the arts now.

The seamstresses at the AGM asked why they should even attend the same meetings, when the discussions are always about carvers, and no seamstress issues are addressed.

Elections were held and the AGM ended. The next day the new Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association board met and elected Ame Papatsie of Pangnirtung as the chairperson.

Then, without any new member board training, for six and a half hours the NACA five-year business plan was presented to the new NACA board by the contracted author.

In summary, the proposed plan is to drop services to Nunavut artists and become a lobbyist to government on behalf of Nunavut artists, to lobby on issues like the carving stone supply problem, which the proposed NACA five-year plan says: ‘… will need long-term advocacy work to reach resolution.”

Ouch.

An Inuit art sales chart drawn to show visually the current state of Inuit art from the 1950s to today, showed a sharp increase of sales in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, then a leveling off with no increase in sight. The market is mature, we are told.

This was believable, as the Boston gallery owners said a few days earlier that they are not interested in bears or birds, but in something new. The people who bought in the 1950s through 1970s are not collecting, are deceased, or are selling their “vintage” Inuit art collections.

Today, it’s a new time with new buyers.

Karen Williamson, an independent Canadian curator, questioned the chart and said that Inuit art is moving into other media, like film, as is shown by Atanaarjuat. She said the overall Inuit art sales chart may really be moving upwards then down.

First Nations art in the United States is financially strong. Starting in the 1970s, when First Nations people and their tribes were shown in film as positive and with a positive historical place in United States history, sales of Inuit art began leveling off.

The changing of the “igloo tag” floored the people from the Boston galleries when they learned of it at the festival. They questioned whether Inuit art buyers are being confused after years of igloo tag branding.

Another shocker was to hear and read that some southern galleries are suggesting the dropping of “Inuit” from Inuit art and to change the designation to “Canadian” artist.

Jim Shirley, of the Match Box Gallery in Rankin Inlet stressed the importance of the days gone by craft shops, suggesting bringing back the craft shops in all of the communities.

The next day a gallery owner from Switzerland and a Canadian independent curator echoed Jim Shirley’s craft shops comments as a place for tourist to see the local communities’ artwork. Both emphasized artist ownership.

You could feel the artistic power and importance of Nunavut seamstresses in our lives watching the hip fashion show. Models in all shapes and sizes who ranged in age from four to 20, proudly showcased the talents of Nunavut seamstresses with their own modeling talents.

It’s time for a Nunavut arts policy.

Jim MacDonald
Monochrome Photographer
Rankin Inlet