tupilakosaurus - Print matters!

silisat nalunaarsorneqanngitsut).1990-ikkut-2000ikkut
Taamatorpiarlumi sunniuteqarput. Tassa,
inuit tassani najugaqareersut. Ilami taakku
nuna nassaare-reersimavaat assip sinaani
nassuiaasup naalagaaniarpaluni nakkutilliiniarpalullunilu
oqaasissaqartitaalluni
tutsiuteqqajannginnera sioqqullugu. Taamaattoq
pingaaruteqanngitsuunngilaq tikiummata,
amerikamiut, naalagaaffissuartut
politikkikkut soqutigisatik pissutigalugit,
danskillu aningaasarsiornikkut isumalluartut
nunap iluani uuliamik aatsitassanillu
iluanaaru-teqarnissaminnik. Immaqa assersuutissat
pitsaanersaraat Uummannap,
Thule Air Basemik pilersitsiniarluni inumminit
pinngitsaaliisumik qimatsinneqartup,
qaqqaa. Pisimasoq Danmarkimi eqqartuussivinni
1985-imiilli suliarineqalersoq.
Kisianni tamaaniinneq, assilissatigut uppernarsarneqartoq,
sinnikuinnanngorpoq,
qanga sulerusussuseqarnermut uumassuseqanngitsumik
eqqaassutissatut, maannalu
tassaaginnalersunut Issittup tikikkuminaatsup
pisuussutaanik kinguneqanngitsumik
pissarsiniaraluarnerup sinnikui. Qulleq
petruuliutortoq ujaqqat qaanniippoq, sivisuumillu
tassaniissimalluni. Assip sinaani
allaatigineqarsimapput barakkit, aaqqissuinerit
kiisalu “sumiiffinnik pilerigisaqarluni
iliuutsit” (“desirable arrangement for
locations”).
Maanna tamakku tamarmik qaangiussimapput.
Sumiiffimmi tassani “pilerigisaqarneq”
qaangiutereerpoq: Apeqqut tassaavoq inuit
tamatuma nalaani eqqorneqartut ukiut
ingerlanerini qanoq pisimanersut? Tamanna
ilungersorsimanernut tulluuppa? Inuttaat
takunngilavut, tassaniissimaneralli takusinnaallugu,
qimataasigut. Oqaluttuarujussuaq
taanna inuunerannut qanoq sunniuteqarpa?
Suut pilliutaappat? Ilumoortoq tassaavoq
kalaallit ilaqutariit amerlaqisut inuunerat
alianartortaqartoq, ilaqutaasullu ilaat
Københavnimi nakkaassimasuusimasut.
Oqaluttuarujussuaq, Arkep (inunnut, sumiiffinni
taakkunani oqaluttuarisaanerminnik
allagaannut) ataqqinnilluni (eqqumiitsuliornermillu
suliffeqarfiit kusanartuliornissamik
inassutaannik) ataqqinninnani assit
namminneq oqalussinnaanngitsut, siniinut
allappaa najugaq inunnut taakkununnga,
assini isigeqqissinnaanngisatsinnut, qanoq
tunngavissalimmik pingaaruteqarsimallunilu
suli qanoq pingaaruteqartigisoq.
Søren Jønsson Granat
Pia Arke. Untitled (annotated photo series from
Thule and Scoresbysund). 1990s-2000s
We see a number of photos from different
places in Greenland. These are
places that both in Pia Arke’s own
personal history and in the history of
Greenland as such have been of importance.
Some photos are historical
photos that Arke appropriates as part
of her strategy for bringing history
to play a role in her work, and others
she took herself. There is, despite the
differences between them, a single
common feature in all the series. They
function as documentation. They are
analog photographs that have as their
premise that that is how it really
looked at that place and at that time.
Perhaps one can say that the places
have been registered with these photographs.
Most of them are black-andwhite,
a little dry in their expression,
which fits very well with their function
as photographic documents.
There are photos from Umanaq
(Thule) in North West Greenland and
from Ittoqqortoormiit (Scoresbysund)
in North East Greenland. Thule Air
Base is a name that is synonymous
with the American military presence
in Greenland, and it brings associations
with the Cold War, B-52s carrying
nuclear bombs and the unpleasant
matter of the compulsory relocation
of the inhabitants of Umanaq
to Quaanaaq further to the north.
Ittoqqortoormiit is the present name
of Scoresbysund, the place in North
East Greenland where Arke grew up.
There are also pictures of the family’s
house.
With her customary lack of respect
for the conventions dictated by the
art institution – for instance that one
doesn’t write on the picture frame …
and certainly not on the picture itself
– Arke has given some of her photos
a special dimension. On the frames
of the pictures there are descriptions
that could be from logbooks or diaries,
with texts that briefly and precisely
reproduce information about the
places depicted. The style is almost
militant as of an explorer reporting
his first meeting with new country.
But Arke’s documentation of her own
history tones down the drama of the
events quite a bit. She has, as already
mentioned, even written what is what
on certain of the pictures. As if the
dramatic landscape was a postcard
from Majorca with a “this is where
we’re staying” marked with a cross!
And that’s just what they were doing,
that is the people who already
lived there. They had, so to say,
discovered the country long before
the dominating and controlling
commentator’s voice on the frames
had anything to say. But it was not
without importance that they came,
the Americans with their Great
Power interests and the Danes with
their economic hopes in the form of
oil or minerals. Perhaps the best example
is the picture of the striking
promontory in Umanaq, from which
the local inhabitants were compulsorily
relocated to make room for
Thule Airbase. A case that was tried
before the Danish courts between
1985 and 2003.
But the presence documented by
the pictures ends nevertheless as a
remnant, a dead memory of bygone
enterprise that has now become the
remainders of fruitless attempts at
wresting wealth from the refractory
Arctic. There is a paraffin lamp
lying on the stony ground, and it
has been lying there for a long time.
The text at the edge of the picture
speaks of barracks, operations and
“desirable arrangement for locations.”
It’s all over now. There is no longer
anything “desirable” about this location.
The question is what happened
in the meantime to the people who
were involved? Was it worth all the
effort? We don’t see the people but
we feel their presence through the
things that have been left behind.
How did the broader history impact
on their lives. What were the costs?
It is a fact that there are tragedies
in many Greenlandic families, and
that many count members whose
lives have foundered in Copenhagen.
So the broader history that
Arke respectfully (in relation to the
people who inscribed their histories
in these places) and disrespectfully
(in relation to art institutional aesthetic
norms) writes on the frames
of the speechless photos has had and
still has a very real and concrete
importance for the people who we no
longer see on the photos.
Søren Jønsson Granat
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