Miriam El Abbassi | Arts Editor
Featured Image: Echoes features the pieces, “Silaup Putunga” and “Inuit in the Media.” | Jamie Griffiths
Echoes, an exhibition by Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory & Jamie Griffiths and Taqralik Partridge, encapsulates the Inuktituk idea of “nipi,” or in other words, sounds or noises as best understood by the English language. Echoes features the pieces, “Silaup Putunga” and “Inuit in the Media,” which were commissioned within the context of Tunirrusiangit: Kenojuak Ashevak and Tim Pitsiulak, a showcase of Inuit artwork at the AGO.
“Silaup Pautunga” is a 25-minute film, showcasing the white landscape of Tikkup Kangiqtunga. Snow-covered cliffs tower over Bathory as she begins her dance performance, and the voice of Celina Kalluk softly echoes and reverberates in the background. The word “silaup putunga” has two roots: Putoq, which means hole, and Sila, which can have multiple meanings. Sila means weather, atmosphere, intellect, universe, and/or equilibrium. Sila Putunga can be understood to be a portal into a different reality.
Bathory is a writer, poet, and mask dancer, born to a Greenlandic mother and an English father. She keeps the rare tradition of uaajeerneq (Greenlandic mask dancing) alive, with its contorted expressions, and wild movements. Bathory is currently the most prominent figure to practice this art, showcasing it to a wide contemporary audience.
Griffiths is a digital artist, director and performer, who spent a large portion of his life on the west coast of Canada, although he was born in the U.K. He currently resides in the territory of Nunavut on Baffin Island. His work reflects Inuit performance, and cultural practices.
Partridge is a writer, spoken-word poet, and curator originally from Kuujjuaq, Quebec, who now lives in Kautokeino, Norway. She states that she enjoys writing about the relationship between people and the land in the Northern parts of the world. However, when she talks about “the South,” Partridge describes a different kind of relationship. She likes to explore the ways in which the Northerners experience and interact with the South, and how that can be challenging, but interesting as well.
Located in the Joan Goldfarb Study Centre, Echoes seeks to widen the public’s perception of Inuit culture and sacred practices, by inviting the audience to observe a truly unique perspective.
