“When NCC put out the call for Expressions of Interest for this project, I immediately felt that I should make a submission. As an Inuk woman from southern Labrador, I have a deep connection to my community and culture. My art is an expression of the pride I carry with me every day to be descended from a people that have thrived for centuries.
This art piece utilizes traditional skills including hand embroidery, beading and caribou hair sculpting. As a reflection of my heritage, I used materials such as fish leather, seal skin, caribou and moose hide, duffel, and beads. The textile piece has been designed to represent a stretched seal skin, and the frame utilizes locally-sourced wood that has been debarked and air dried.
In the background of this piece, you will see the Tablelands in Henley Harbour, a place of great significance to my people. It is near where the British-Inuit Treaty of 1765 was entered into between my ancestors and the British. Each image that is overlayed signifies something that is important to our NunatuKavut Inuit culture: our history, our lands, our waters, the sustenance they both give. But they also highlight the thing that is most cherished of all—our connection to people and place.
It is an honour and privilege to have had my work selected for this momentous occasion, and my desire is that it will be a display of the history, culture and fortitude of my Inuit ancestors, the continued resilience of my people of today, and the hope for our children of tomorrow.”
