IMELDA ALMQVIST ART: JOURNEYS TO OTHER WORLDS, INNER WORLDS AND AROUND THE WORLD IN PAINTINGS!
Inuksuk, Inuksuit, Inuit, Eskimo, stone figures in the arctic resembling humans, the far north, silent messengers, tupqujak or shaman's portal, tukisiuti or pathways of understanding, symbols of the arctic, waiting places, Inuksuk in Vancouver, Inuksuk in Spitsbergen, Svalbard Inuksuk, Tuuniit or Ancient Ones, Inuit Ancestors, The Great Necessity, Inuksuk as Shaman's Portal to Spirit World, pathways of the mind, Norman Hallendy
"THREE INUKSUKS"
Our sons Brendan (4) and Quinn (8) by the large Inuksuk overlooking The English Bay in Vancouver, May 2008
LITTLE INUKSUK ON SPITSBERGEN
A little Inuksuk built by the artist on Spitsbergen, September 2006
It overlooks Adventfjorden (the Advent Fjord) right by Longyearbyen!
INUKSUK
INNUNGUAQ (30 x 30 cm) £125
(Inuksuk 'in the likeness of a human')
Inuksuit (plural of Inuksuk) are mysterious stone figures that can be found all over the Arctic world. They are built from whatever stones are at hand, so each stone is unique in shape. Their construction is rarely taken lightly. Inuksuit are among the oldest and most important objects placed by humans on the vast Arctic landscape and they have become a symbol of the Inuit (Eskimos) and their homeland.
The word 'Inuksuk' (plural: Inuksuit) means 'something acting in the capacity of a human'. Inuksuit are silent messengers that can communicate many different things:
danger
a safe passage
hints for hunters
objects of veneration
reference points
Inuit elders say that the building of Inuksuit began 'in the time of the first humans, those who prepared the land for our first ancestors'. They are referred to as the Tuniit or Ancient Ones. The best Inuksuit are found at 'waiting places', where people had time on their hands to build something.
INUKSUK ARNIRNIQTALIK (30x 30 cm) £125
(Spirit Dwelling Inuksuk)
Once an Inuksuk has been erected it creates its own micro-climate. It casts a shadow, is visible from miles, is a windbreak. It can hold snow on one side and trap sunshine on the other side. It collects bird dropping which in turn provide nutrition for plant life (meaning lichen in the Arctic). Sometimes there is even a flower from seed dropped by a bird or an Arctic butterfly...
An important thing to bear in mind is that the Inuit language evolves around very different concepts from the ways of thinking and naming we are used to. For instance, in the Arctic, the summer is divided into two seasons:
I Siangiyaut 'when young ducks preen'
II Saggat 'when caribou have short hair'
The word for Spring is immaturpug, 'when the earth received its first water'.
Tatniqquaq is the moon of the shortest days and becomes
Nalirgaituq, the moon signalling the return of the sun
The Inuit possess a quality that has become alien to us: unganaqtuqnuna, 'a deep and total attachment to the land'.
Their language has words for things that takes our language a whole sentence to describe: tautoguuq, 'the occurrence of light on the winter landscape'. Another beautiful example is issumatujuk: turning things over to see what the underside looks like, moving through shadows, never staying in one place...
As explained in the Inuit Series: the Inuit live a precarious life lived close to the ocean, in a complex relationship with the souls of the animals they have to hunt for food. No Inuit hunter would ever kill disprespectfully (i.e. for sport or for no good reason). The Inuit have a word for this: taimaigiakaman, 'The Great Necessity' (to kill living things).
TUPQUJAG (30 x 30 cm) £125
(or PORTAL through which a shaman enters the spirit world)
Shamans played a crucial role as intermediators between human beings and the spirit world. One type of Inuksuk is called a tupqujag. It is a structure in the shape of a doorway or portal through which a shaman enters the spirit world.
INUKSUK (30 x 30 cm) £125
(home & resting place for spirit)
The Inuit had a custom of building an Inuksuk for a loved one before embarking on a long and dangerous journey. They placed their spirit inside, making it a place that relatives could visit. After death the Inuksuk became a permanent resting place for their spirit. (A fascinating variation on our concept of a grave, I think!).
On Spitsbergen I found a stone that looked much like a bird's head in silhouette.
Sadly I didn't have time to finish the figure September 2006
Inuksuit can take many different forms and shapes. One single Inuksuk can even have different silhouettes when approached from different directions! (I.e. the silhouette of a man from one direction, and of a bird's head and beak from another direction, a pointing finger from yet a third direction).
Words and expressions are of particular importance in order to 'see'. And here the Inuksuk series touches the Language and Mark Making Series!
TUKISIUTI (30 x 30 cm) £125
(Pathways of Understanding)
Pathways are an important concept in Inuit culture. Just as the animals have (migration) pathways and humans have (hunting) pathways, there exist pathways of the mind! The word tukisiuti means 'pathways of understanding'. Some lead to wisdom, others lead to chaos... Shamans had pathways forbidden to ordinary humans. (For more on this subject please see the write-up of the Siberian Series and the Apogrypha).
For the Inuit (in the days before television!) storytelling was both a form of communication and entertainment. Stories
bring the past into the present
connect children to ancestors
fill a tent with images that 'dance in the imagination'
Norman Hallendy, who spent 40 years studying Inuksuit, says:
'perhaps Inuitsuit have endured because they have a presence not only upon the land but also upon the landscape of the imagination'.
I wholeheartedly recommend his book, details listed below. Reading his book certainly meant that Inuksuit took up a presence in my mind and imagination, which lead to me working on this particular series of paintings.
He said something else I found very moving:
'From time to time the spirits seek us out because they are in need on human warmth for a little while. That is the time to listen very carefully what they are saying, because they are trying to tell us what they are really thinking'.
Imelda Almqvist
(Last Updated August 2010)
If you enjoyed this webpage, please consider adding a link to
INUKSUIT, SILENT MESSENGERS OF THE ARCTIC Norman Hallendy, British Museum Press 2000 ISBN 0-7141-2549-0
THIS COLD HEAVEN Seven Seasons in Greenland Gretel Ehrlich Fourth Estate, a division of HarperCollins publishers London 2003 ISBN I-84115-723-6
Inuksuk, Inuksuit, Inuit, Eskimo, stone figures in the arctic resembling humans, the far north, silent messengers, tupqujak or shaman's portal, tukisiuti or pathways of understanding, symbols of the arctic, waiting places, Inuksuk in Vancouver, Inuksuk in Spitsbergen, Svalbard Inuksuk, Tuuniit or Ancient Ones, Inuit Ancestors, The Great Necessity, Inuksuk as Shaman's Portal to Spirit World, pathways of the mind, Norman Hallendy
IMELDA ALMQVIST ART: JOURNEYS TO OTHER WORLDS, INNER WORLDS AND AROUND THE WORLD IN PAINTINGS!
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