tupilakosaurus - Print matters!

1997
lugu, taamaattumik silatusaartumik
isiginninniarluni assilisanit marlunnit
avataaniittunit una qaninneruvoq
attaveqatigiippasinnerullunilu. Arnaq
inussiarnerpasilluni qungujulavoq
iluareqqusaarpasillunilu – immaqa
ittuulaarluni – isikkami inuai kamimmi
iluani aalatillugit. Assiliisup sumit
naggueqarnera pingaarnerujunnaarpoq.
Kisianni eqqoriarsinnaavarput angutaasoq,
asannilersimasorlu. Assip
taassuma assillu allat marluk assigiinnginnerujussuisiguteqqumiitsuliortoq
apeqqusiivoq pingaartumik
assit qalipaateqanngitsut marluk pillugit,
kulturillu naaperiaasiat taakku
takutitaat pillugit. Assimi qiterlermi
assiliisup, naak takuneqarsinnaanngikkaluarluni,
najuunneratigut
takusinnaalerparputtaaq assini allani
marlunni assiliisoq. Tassuunakkut annaavaa
kinaassusersiorani nalunaarsuisutut
paasisimasaqarnini. Kinaanami?
Sutigut pisinnaatitaaffeqarluni
“assiliniakkani” taama inissippai? Assilineqartut
qanoq isumaliorpat? Sooq
peqataappat? Assiliineq sioqqullugu
kingornatigullu qanoq attaveqatigiittoqarsimava?
Assileeriaatsit assigiinngitsut taakku
imminnut illuatungilersinnerisigut
kattunnerisigullu Arkep ammaappaatigut
nunasiaasimanerup kingorna
paasinninnissamik assitoqqat ilisimaneqarluartut,assileqqinneqartuartartullu,
aqqutigalugit, assitoqqat
taama saqqummersitseriaaseqartoqarsinnaaneraniknaalagaatigisoqarsimaneranillu
arlaannaannilluunniit
apeqquserneqarsimanngitsut. Assit arlaannaannulluunniit
atanani “kulturimik”
aalajangersimasumik takutitsiniarunnaarput,
tassaalerlutilli kulturit
naligiinngitsumik naapinnerannik,
aappaata qiviarnermigut aappaminut
naalaganngorneranik imminullu piginnaatitaaffilerneranik
taanna qanoq
nassuiassanerlugu. Imaluunniit taama
misiliigaluarluni.
Kirsten Thisted
Pia Arke. Krabbe/Jensen. 1997
With her juxtaposition of three
appropriated photographs –
two from Th.N. Krabbe’s book
Grønland. Dets Natur, Beboere og
Historie [Greenland. Its Landscapes,
Inhabitants and History]
from 1929 and one taken by
telegraphist Sven Lund Jensen
in East Greenland in 1947 – Pia
Arke has created an entirely new
work. We decode with ease the
two black-and-white pictures as
“ethnographical”, i.e. pictures of
“alien”, non-European natives,
taken by a European with the
intention of documenting the existence
and characteristics of the
people in question. Whereas the
photographer himself is invisible,
the two East Greenlanders are
most literally exposed to view.
These are strong and complex
pictures. The subjects stand
frozen in their poses, probably
determined by the photographer.
But they do not yield unconditionally;
there is a directness in
their eyes that makes an enduring
impression on and challenges
the viewer. At the same time
there is something unpleasant
about the situation. Especially in
the woman’s nakedness there is
a suggestion of violation. We are
far from the eroticising fascination
with “natives” to be found in
European painting. Both pictures
seem to be an impersonal registration.
We have to do with an
item of scientific documentation
of human beings, a little like butterflies
pierced by a pin.
The artist reinforces this effect
with the picture in the middle.
It is more amateurish and has
the character of a snapshot even
though the young woman is quite
evidently posing for the photographer.
Here we have to do with
another kind of “private” photography.
The photographer has
wanted a picture of this particular
woman, and the unemotional
distance that characterises the
two other pictures is therefore
replaced here by attention and
communication. The woman is
smiling accommodatingly and is
coquettishly – perhaps a little
shyly – tilting up the toes of her
kamiks. The photographer’s
ethnicity is no longer an issue.
But we can guess that the picture
was probably taken by a man,
and that he is in love. With the
contrast between this picture and
the two others the artist is raising
questions, especially about
the two black-and-white photos
and about the kind of cultural
meeting they represent. Because
the photographer is so clearly
present in the middle picture,
even though we can’t see him, we
also catch sight of the photographer
in the two other pictures.
In this way he loses authority
as an objective recorder. All of a
sudden we can ask questions of
his presence. Who was he? With
what right did he arrange his
“objects” in this way? What were
the persons being photographed
thinking? Why did they participate?
What form of communication
was there before and after
the pictures were taken?
By bringing two types of photography
into conflict and dialogue
with each other in this manner,
Arke opens the way for a
postcolonial interpretation of
the well-known old photographs,
which have been reproduced time
and again without anyone questioning
the form of representation
and dominance they are an
expression of. The pictures are no
longer neutral representations of
a certain “culture”, but the outcome
of a strongly asymmetrical
meeting of cultures, in which one
side takes control of the other
and assumes the right to define
its members through the gaze.
Or at any rate tries to do so.
Kirsten Thisted
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