Post #93
Acknowledging the Spirit of the Artwork
In the Nuit Blanche podcast, Belonging to Place, Episode 8, “Exchanges for Collaborations,” INUA curator, Krista Ulujak Zawadski shared that when she would visit the old Inuit Vault in the basement of the Winnipeg Art Gallery she would speak Inuktitut to all of the pieces, and greet them by saying, “Hello, I can see you,” to the artworks (Nagam, 2021). She also shared that she would stream CBC radio and music from Nunavut so that the artwork could hear the voices and sounds of home. I was really moved by this, for, acknowledging that the artwork has a spirit and honouring that spirit and the ancestors who created the artwork is an act of decolonialism.
Zawadski sharing of how she acknowledges the artworks reminds me of some unique instances that occurred at my work when the Government of Nunavut Heritage Workers Group visited the Winnipeg Art Gallery in January of 2020. In my position as a Learning & Programs Coordinator at the WAG-Qaumajuq, I had the honour to spend the week with the group as we learned about different ways we could support each other and the artwork in our care. During the time of their visit there were a couple of unusual incidents that happened with some Inuit artworks on display from the WAG Collection. One incident was when a sculpture in the exhibition Small Worlds fell over in the display case. There was no apparent reason why the artwork would have fallen over within the security of the case. The Government of Nunavut Heritage Workers Group shared with me that spirits of the artworks were making themselves be known, that they wanted to be seen by their people. A couple of people in the group spoke to the artwork in Inuktitut and told them that they were there. They shared with me that the artworks can feel homesick too and that they wanted to let the artworks know that they were in good place and that people from home were visiting them and would continue to visit them.
Artwork by Maudie Rachel Okittuq, photo C. Leduc, 2020
Another incident was when a doll created by Maudie Rachel Okittuq, from Taloyoak, Nuliajuk from the exhibition Nuliajuk’s Story also fell over in the display case right before I was going to give a virtual class to a group of high school students in Taloyoak, Nunavut, the same community where the doll was made. The students knew the artist, Maudie Rachel Okittuq, who created the doll, and they told me that they were going to share with Okittuq that her that the doll fell to the side, and that they felt the artwork was reaching out to them. These moments have had a profound way on the manner that I engaged with the artwork within WAG-Qaumajuq, especially the pieces from Inuit Nunangat. I treat these pieces like they are honoured visitors who may be feeling homesick. I greet the artworks now and tell them that I see them. Moving forward, I would like to be inspired by how Zawadski honours the artwork by including the sounds of home from the radio.
I see the event, Nuit Blanche, as actively trying to collect individuals to the spirit of artworks. One of the first things that came up in discussion the course, Public Art: Nuit Blanche and Other Ruptures, was that when we think of Nuit Blanche we think of multi-sensory works of art that attempt to engage individuals and the community with artwork in a more physical way then artwork you typically think of in the confines of an art gallery or art museum. This connection between our physical bodies and the artwork through interaction, sounds, lights can be ways that the spirit of the artwork is reaching out and connecting with us.
References
Nagam, Julie. Nuit Blanche podcast, Belonging to Place, Episode 8, “Exchanges for Collaborations,” 2021. https://player.captivate.fm/episode/32eeabdd-a766-493a-97bd-181c5c14737c
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Colleen Leduc