Makivik Magazine Issue 91

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The participants from St. Antoine School in Angers, France.
Exchanging Favourite
Landscapes
By Fabienne Joliet,
Agrocampus-Ouest, Angers
This year, nine school children from Kiluutaq
School in Umiujaq have been corresponding
with 46 school children from Saint Antoine
School in Angers, France. Their way of exchanging
was quite original in that these students
have been sending drawings of their favourite
landscapes.
Within the framework of Tursujuq Park creation,
the perception of landscapes for future
tourists and inhabitants are represented in a
multitude of routes leading to different destinations.
Initiated through Fabienne Joliet,
this drawing workshop for Umiujaq children
occurred at the same time as an ongoing
photographic contest that is also related to
landscapes. The final aim is to gather landscape
pictures from Umiujaq and to make
them available to all.
The school children in Umiujaq were in
their 3 rd , 4 th , and 5 th years of French studies in
Ms Larochelle’s class. In Angers there were two
classes: Ms Linarès 1 st and 2 nd year students and
Ms Gisdal and Ms Echallier 3 rd and 4 th year students.
All in all, 55 children were participating
during the year.
The principle consists of three levels of
children’s landscape appreciation. The first
exchange was on the theme “My favourite
landscape where I live,” the second was “My
favourite landscape where I like to go,” and the
third was “My landscape where I would like to
go some day.”
Each correspondence consisted of one
drawing per child and one collective letter
written in French. This motivated the children
to practise their handwriting and enabled
them to experiment with different art materials
such as pencils, felt-tip markers, gouache
and watercolours.
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Arthur’s favourite landscape where he lives
in Angers.
The content of these drawings will be
analysed to see what kind of landscapes these
children yearn for and where they are located
in their own close and distant landscapes.
We can already see that the “everyday
landscape” depicted by these Umiujaq and
Angers school children has in common a scene
of their school, which is very well represented
overall. Umiujaq children then represented
the village beach with Nastapoka Islands in
the background, whereas the
children from Angers essentially
represented their city gardens or
their sports grounds.
The landscape “where I would
like to go” for the Umiujaq children
is as much represented by neighbouring
villages (such as Inukjuak,
Puvirnituq, or Kuujjuaraapik) as is
Montreal and as is their natural
environment such as Tasiujaq Lake
or Nastapoka Falls. In comparison,
the Angers drawings show a clear
preference for the beach and the
sea far away from Angers and for
playground areas (such as parks,
zoos, football fields and basketball
courts) situated in the city.
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Aurelie’s favourite landscape where she lives
in Angers.
Beyond this central landscape theme,
these workshops were an opportunity for children
to talk about their country and their way
of life through questions written in their letters
such as: “What do you eat? What do you
play? What kind of pets do you have? How
many hours of night and day do you have in
your place?”
This participatory approach to creativity
will be recorded in an album for public use in
the municipality. The project could also be carried
out, for example, in Kuujjuaraapik, which
is also affected by public activity related to
Tursujuq Park.
We wish to thank the NV of Umiujaq and
Makivik Corporation for your support of this
project. Thanks also to the French Polar Institute
(Institut Polaire Français) with the participation
of B. Dubier and A. Coutanceau (Landscape
Department, Agrocampus-Ouest).
MAKIVIK mag a zine
73