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1966-imut qiviarneq. 1989
sumiiffiup oqaluttuassartaanut piviusuusumut.
Nammineq inuunerisap
sumiiffigisallu imminnut ataqatigiinnerisa
kaaviiaarfigaat qanga pisunut
qanoq isiginninneq aamma Danmarkip
Kalaallit Nunaatalu oqaluttuassartaannut.
Kalaallit Nunaata assingata atuarfimmi
atugassiap qanganitsap nammineq
nunap assingatut nalunaaqqutsersukkatigullu
uppernarsarpaat Danmarkip
Kalaallit Nunaatalu akunnerminni
pisortatigoortumik oqaluttuassartaat,
tassungali assingusumittaaq inuup
nammineq oqaluttuassartaa, tassami
Kalaallit Nunaata assingani sumiiffiit
nalunaaqutserneqarsimasut tassaapput
Pia Arkep meeraaffigisimasai. Arke
isumaqarpoq Kalaallit Nunaata assingata
assipalukkaa iloqiaap (tuluup Elefantmandimik
taaneqartartup) niaqua
iloqiaasortaaq aalajangersimasumiit
isigalugu – tassa nunap assinganik
qimerluuineq, nunap assinganik qimerluueriaatsit
nalinginnaasut sinaakkutaannik
qaangiisoq.
Nammineq misigisanik allaatigisaq
angerlarsimaffigivisat najugaqarfigisimasaviilluunniit
akornanni
ingerlaartutut ippoq, paasiniaanerullunilu
Danmarkip Kalaallit Nunaatalu
tamalaartumik marloqiusaasumillu
attaveqatigiinnerannik. Ingerlaaseq
eqqaanarsinnaavoq misissuinernut
allanut, ajoqersuiartortitat, ilisimasassarsiortut,
inuiaat kulturiannik
inuusaasiannillu paasiniaasut kiisalu
nunap assiliortartut suliaannut,
kisiannili taamaangajaannarluni.
Meeraanermimmi nalinginnaasumik
eqqaamasatulli pisortatigoortumik
oqaluttuaq oqaluttuareqattaarneqartaqaaq
assigiinngeqisunillu. Meeraanermit
eqqaamasat equngasumik
assingupput Danmarkip Kalaallit
Nunaatalu attaveqatigiinnerannik
nalinginnaasumik takorloortakkanut,
eqqaasitsisumik oqaluttuarisaaneq
oqaluttuassartarpassuaqartoq isortorlu.
Mette Jørgensen
Pia Arke. First Flash Back to 1966 in Dundas.
1989
It must be a family. Grownups
standing around talking.
Children on swings in front of
the house. A pram, a bicycle,
a seesaw, flowers. The picture
reminds us of the kind children
often make a huge number of in
childhood – dad, mum, children
and house: the idea of a family
that attaches itself to the specific
places where we have lived,
as permanent landmarks in the
landscapes of our memories.
The picture looks back to
a childhood somewhere in
Greenland; a visual attempt at
recalling something that has
happened. It is a scene that
is taking place – summoned
by memory – and its dramatic
content grips the present from
where it is remembered. The
scene does not evoke nostalgia,
but seems to make room and a
future for the life that is placed
between then and now. The
autobiographical is an action
in the present that derives its
material from the hiding places
of reality and gives it dramatic
life.
An autobiography does not
invent its story – it transforms
it. The picture is murky, frayed
at the edges, the surroundings
are unclear and without a
horizon. It is a point in time, a
place situated between Greenland
and Denmark, between
bearskin trousers and flowers,
between a Greenlandic mother
and a Danish father. The present-day
recollection does not try
to recreate an original and pure
“I”, but explores a confusing and
ambiguous descent.
The autobiographical is personal,
but is also connected with
the place and its history. The
factual personal background
reaches out for the history of
the actual place. The link between
the personal life and the
place circles around the relation
to the past and to the story of
Denmark and Greenland.
On an old school map of Greenland
we find confirmation both
from the map itself and from
the lines drawn on it of the
official history shared between
Denmark and Greenland; but
this is parallel with the personal
history since the places the
lines point to in Greenland are
places where Pia Arke actually
lived as a child. Arke thought
that the map of Greenland
resembled the Elephant Man’s
monstrous head from a certain
angle – in itself a reading of the
map that goes beyond the traditional
limits for what a map
represents.
The autobiographical action
moves among the concrete
homes or settlements and
explores a variegated and
ambiguous connection between
Denmark and Greenland. The
movement is similar to other
explorations that missionaries,
explorers, ethnographers and
cartographers have carried out,
but only almost. But as is the
case with childhood memories
in general, the official history
is also retold many times
and in many ways. Childhood
memories are a skewed parallel
to current ideas about the connection
between Denmark and
Greenland that remind us that
history is manifold and murky.
Mette Jørgensen
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