ᕿᒥᕐᕈᒋᐊᕐᓂᖅ | Reflect
September 6 - October 8
Opening Reception: September 7 (5 - 8 pm)
‘Reflect’ is meant to evoke a careful consideration and understanding of Inuit epistemology. Katherine Takpannie has spent years studying her history, heritage, culture, and language; she uses this hard-earned knowledge to showcase the urban Inuk perspective of a western world through her camera lens. With Reflect, Takpannie hopes to enact positive social change by starting the conversation about Inuit life and legacy.
“All our cultural beliefs and values are associated with the implementation of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuit knowledge, or IQ for short), a term which directly translates to, ‘that which Inuit have always known to be true’. I want my Inuit knowledge to be felt through the landscape imagery of Nunavut which means, ‘Our Land’. Nunavut is so vast, soft and welcoming. The sky is deeper than a dream. The pace in which the world operates slows down, and you’re able to notice each unique detail and feature which our land offers us and through which it sustains us.
Avatittinnik Kamatsiarniq is an IQ principle which means ‘respect and care for the land, animals, and environment’. Inuit have always had very close connections with nature, Suputi #1 is Inuktut for “arctic cotton”, the wick used in the Qulliq. The Qulliq is a lamp that provides light and warmth to our homes, originally made by a husband for his wife. It symbolised that the woman was the flame keeper of the home and, on a deeper spiritual level, honour women as the life-carriers.
As the exhibit continues, Ma Myriah’s ‘Our Women and Girls are Sacred’ speaks to the Inuit view of unity and global social accountability for the disproportionately missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people in Canada. Within the National Inquiry of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the Qulliq is a symbol of the strength, love, and gentleness of Inuit women. It shall carry light into the families’ as they continue their healing journeys.
The Sedna series speaks to the Inuit Goddess of the Sea, who becomes the mother of all marine mammals through great struggle. This series was created from the question, “What will Sedna do when she hears the seismic testing?” These images explore the cultural mythology, history, and philosophy of Inuit societal values in the face of the drastic and violent disruptions to Inuit homelands through resource extraction.
Bearing witness to the culture, language, history, mythology, philosophy, and values of Inuit life, I wish to aid in the conservation of Inuit identity, and I believe that incorporating traditional Inuit knowledge into regulatory frameworks will positively impact the social and economic sustainability of natural resource-based livelihoods worldwide.”
