tupilakosaurus - Print matters!

uttutut kamanneq. 1997
sigiinngitsigisunik paasiniarneqarsinnaanera.
Arke kingumut qiviarpoq takutillugillu
arnat isikkorissut. Namminneq avatangiisiminni
angutinut illissaarput. Angutip
kajungernera takutippaat. Ilisimasaqarusunneq,
pissaaneqarneq atoqatigiinnerlu. Angutip
qarliimmi iluatigut tissarnera. Kajungerneq
ima erseqqitsigisoq allaat ilisimatusarnerup
atisallu ammit iluannut toqqortariaqarluni.
Kisianni takuneqarsinnaalersarpoq arnat
qanoq assilisinnerisigut: “The Mistress of the
Tupik”, “Arctic Bronze” aamma “Flash-light
Study”.
Pearyp, Hensonip, Entrikinip imaluunniit
Clarkip erfalasoq Qalasersuarmi kisimik nappanngilaat.
Suliaat piviusunngunngisaannarsimassagaluarput
nunaqavissunit, arnanit,
ikiorneqarsimanngikkaluarunik. Arnap
atisaliuuppai, nerisassiuuppai, aqqutissaannik
ajoqersuuppai, ilami takornartat taakku
issittup pissusivianik paasitippai. Naatsorsoruminaatsutut,
tinnapaartutut nujuartatulluunniit
inngilluinnarpoq. Kusanartuuvoq,
ilisimasaqarluarluni kissalaartuullunilu.
Issittumut ornigukkusunnermi pingaarutilik,
puigorusutarli, atoqatigiinnermut tunngavoq.
Peary avanersuarmiumik arnamik,
taamani 14-iinnarnik ukiulimmik, ilaqartalerpoq.
Tamanna Pearyp aningaasaliisuinit
miserratigineqarpoq puigoqquneqarlunilu.
Qalasersuarmut angalanerit aningaasalersorneqarnerisa
tunngavigaat Pearyp minguissusia.
Paatsiveerutitsisimassagaluarpormi,
ajunaarnersuunngikkuni, inunni qernertunik
qaqortunillu immikkoortitsisuni tamanna
paasineqaraluarpat.
Takusassarsiortut eskimuut arnartaannik
aqqusaakkaminni naapitaminnit illigilikkaminnillu
atoqateqartarnermikkut qassiunerinik
ilisimaneqanngitsunik kinguaaqarput.
Kisianni tamakku oqaluttuarisaanermi
pilikkimik ersinngitsumik allanneqarput,
assuarnarmata.
Arke inunngorpoq assersuutitut taaneqartutut
eskimuup arnap Pearyllu imminnut
sammisimanerattut. Kalaallimik anaanaqarpoq
qallunaamillu ataataqarluni. Alliartorpoq
akuleriiaat, oqaluttuarisaanermik toqqorterisut
allanngorartitsisullu, akornanni.
Inuunini atorpaa paasineqarsinnaanngitsut
allatallu akornanni allanneqanngitsut paasiniarnerinut
uppernarsaatissarsiorluni. Issittumi
silaarulluni kamannermi kiisami arnaq
saqqummerpoq, aamma arnatut pissusimigut.
Pissaanilik, patajaatsoq eqqissisimasorlu.
Iben Mondrup
Pia Arke. Arctic Hysteria. 1997
In Pia Arke’s photo work Arctic
Hysteria (sometimes also referred to
as Arctic Hysteria IV) I first see that
which is naked as opposed to that
which is clad in skins and furs. Summer
as opposed to winter, nature as
opposed to science. It is in all respects
opposites that meet in the prototypes
of the male explorer and the female
savage, 7 persons in all, whom Arke
has drawn out of the yellowed pages
of the polar explorer Robert E. Peary’s
descriptions of his journeys.
The next thing I see is the title of the
work: Arctic Hysteria. Very dramatic,
seen in relation to the peaceful poses
of the people portrayed. The title
points out of the work. Points to Arke’s
life and the way in which it merged
with the reality around the explorations
of the early ethnographers’
journeys in Arctic cultures.
“Arctic hysteria” (piblokto) was a
culturally related psychopathological
phenomenon that Peary’s contemporaries
diagnosed in the Eskimos.
The condition, hysterical screaming
followed by cramps and loss of
self-control, was, it seemed, virtually
psychotic. It appeared in winter and
especially in women who suffered from
vitamin poisoning – it was believed.
That kind of hysteria was just one of
the spectacular features that were observed
in the polar regions. Together
with other peculiarities it would come
to constitute the science that was to
explain the savages’ mental instability
and legitimise the cultural superiority
of the white race.
There are photographs documenting
“Arctic hysteria”. Driven by her curiosity
about the ways in which photographs
can generate history, Arke
unearthed these pictures. One of them
was a photo of a semi-naked woman
being held by two men in front of the
camera and screaming with fear.
Arke was not given permission to use
the specific picture in her work, probably
because it was too compromising.
It embodied the latent violation that
also formed part of scientific investigations
at that time. But Arke found
her own ambiguous way of examining
“Arctic hysteria”.
Arke goes back and shows instead
the women with their ample forms.
In their element they make a show of
themselves for the men. She shows
male lust. For knowledge, power and
sex. His erection under his clothes. A
lust that was so pronounced that it
had to be covered under science, skins
and furs. But which appears in the
way the women have been posed: “The
Mistress of the Tupik”, “Arctic Bronze”
and in “Flash-light Study”.
Peary, Henson, Entrikin or Clark
planted more than just their flags
at the Pole. Their feats would never
have been possible without massive
assistance from the natives, from the
women. They sewed clothes, made
soup, showed the way and in general
initiated the strangers into the reality
of the Arctic. She was anything but
unstable, insane or savage. She was
beautiful, gifted and warm.
An important but repressed part of
the advances in the polar region was
sexual. Peary had an Eskimo woman,
who was only 14 years old at the
beginning of their relationship. This
was denied and suppressed by Peary’s
supporters. The financing of the polar
journeys was dependent on Peary‘s
purity. Knowledge of the relationship
would have caused confusion, would
have been disastrous, in a conceptual
world where black and white had to be
kept separate.
In return for sex, the adventurers left
behind an unknown number of descendants;
children they had with Eskimo
women that they met and desired
along the way, but who were recorded
in history in invisible ink, because
they were inappropriate.
Arke was born out of the relationship
between the symbolic Eskimo woman
and Peary. She had a Greenlandic
mother and a Danish father. She grew
up in a bastardised world, between
historical repression and historical displacement.
She devoted her life to reassembling
the documents, to making
out what was unclear and to reading
between the lines. In Arctic Hysteria
we for once see women as they also
were. Powerful, balanced, cool.
Iben Mondrup
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