Piecing together the past

KIRSTEN MURPHY

There is a story behind every Inuit carving. But among the vast collection of the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit, there are some pieces whose story remains a mystery.

Brian Lunger, the museum’s curator, is embarking on a $12,000 project to discover the history of the mysterious carvings. Over the next two months, he will travel to Kimmirut, Clyde River and Arctic Bay, taking along photos of the rarely seen pieces.

His mission is to gather information about the pieces, many dating back to the 1960s, from the carvers themselves or from family members.

If the artist has passed away, Lunger hopes elders and family members can provide details about when and where a carving was made. He has hired community-based interpreters and set up interviews with elders and family members in advance.

The Government of Nunavut’s department of culture, language, elders and youth (CLEY) is providing the funding.

“There’s been no formal attempt to do this before. Sometimes all we have is a name [of an artist], or not even that,” Lunger said. “There are some really interesting and unique pieces, even abstracts.”

The collection includes a three-piece hunting scene, screaming serpents and a two-headed, accordion-playing bear — all in a variety of materials, including stone, bone and ivory.

The unidentified, partially identified and even misidentified carvings are one-tenth of the museum’s permanent 700-piece Baffin region collection — gathered between 1965 and 1975 by Government of the Northwest Territories arts and crafts officers.

In some ways, the project began years before Lunger even submitted his proposal to CLEY. He routinely asks museum visitors where they’re from. Three years ago, a man who grew up in an outpost camp near Pond Inlet was admiring a whalebone carving of a woman. The visitor, Seagna Atagootak, who has since passed away, was the carving’s creator.

“It’s a real pleasure to discover a person knows something about a carving. That’s happened a few times,” Lunger said.

Documenting Inuit art history is a way of preserving stories that may otherwise be lost, Lunger said. He will use the information to create more accurate exhibits, correcting the spelling errors and omissions of the past. But first, information from the interviews will be posted on the museum’s Web page. Down the road, Lunger hopes to compile a book or catalogue.

The 60-piece collection is currently stored between the museum and the legislature building.

Lunger hopes the project continues next year and expands to include Pangnirtung, Pond Inlet, Igloolik and Cape Dorset.

“I’d love to go to Grise Fiord but it would probably be cheaper to fly people here,” Lunger said.