(Post 1 of 3) The Arts & Crafts Workshop sits down by the harbour in Sisimiut. The dust from carved antler and bone reaches your nose as you climb the stairs. It’s pretty quiet inside; but it’s full of stories. Tuku’s parents, Axel Lund Olsen and Makka Nykjær recommended that I come here to meet…
(Post 2 of 3) Maria Nielsen. Artist, teacher, mother, business owner, elected official. I met her in the Arts & Crafts workshop on a break from selling some of the art she has been producing for 45 years. When her kids were growing up, sometimes she would only sleep for one hour. Now, her son…
(Post 3 of 3) We arrived at the elder hostel in time for a small birthday party. The cakes were fantastic, and our hostess, Emelia Lennert, greeted us with smile. Emelia had to leave her home just a few months ago after breaking her leg. She’s 84. Emelia was an elected official for 34 years….
A danish hostel breakfast in Greenland, thanks to the Sisimiut’s Sømandshjemmet (Seaman’s house). Little did I know that this would be a big day for #meetthenorth: six interviews, a translator, and two birthday parties. Stories from Sisimiut’s elders coming up.
(Post 1 of 6) I was welcomed to Sisimiut with Greenlandic food prepared by Tukumminnguaq Olsen. She invited me to her family home to share caribou she brought home herself after a successful hunt on the weekend. First, we ate tingulaat, a mix of cod livers (boiled), angelica (a robust green plant that grows locally),…
(Post 2 of 6) If you are from the south, like me, you don’t have caribou in your garage, but this is the result of hard work and family time: boat travel, overland trekking, lake crossings and skill. Eating food fresh from the land is very important here. Makka explained that leaving the meat out…
(Post 3 of 6) Tuku’s mother, Makka, didn’t want her picture taken, but she let me take photos of her story wall, which holds memories that span her entire life. Behold: – the feet from Makka’s brother’s first ptarmigan kill, – a puzzle called “the visitors” which I never did solve, – a narwhal necklace…
(Post 4 of 6) This traditional West Greenlandic outfit is over 50 years old. Makka wore it when she was two years old. Embroidery, lace, beadwork, seal skin.
(Post 5 of 6) Tuku’s mother wore these beads at her wedding. They are part of the traditional West Greenlandic dress. The beads should be the right length, and the colours are significant too. This one has too much blue for Tuku to wear now but she said, “Maybe I can wear them when I…
(Post 6 of 6) The evening culminated here. By now it is after 10 pm and we have pulled out all of the family’s traditional clothing. Axel’s polar bear pants and kamiit, Tuku’s first fox fur jacket, and now this. Tuku wears a sealskin amaut made for her mother by a woman in Qaanaaq when…