tupilakosaurus - Print matters!

artaateqarneq. 1996
Kisianni assit tulleriiaat qimerloornerini
imminnut illuatungeriittut
uteqattaartut periaasinngoriartuinnartutut
ipput isumaat
tunorlinngorlunilusooq. Nalunaarasuartaatip
napparussua umiarsuullu
napparutaa; umiarsuup pituutai
nalunaarasuartaatillu aqqutaat;
illumi ningiu nerriviliortoq, piniartorlu
qaannaminik passussisoq;
umiarsuup siua angutillu issianera.
Illuatungeriinnerit isikkumikkut
taamaapput, imminnut assingullutik,
imaakkunanngitsumilli taakku
ataqatigiissutaat immini isumaqartoq.
Pissusissamisut naleqquttumik
tarraninneq allanngortinneqarpoq
illuatungeriinnerillu imartussusiat
tarparlugu.
Assilissat oqaluttuaraat allanik
oqaluttuarneq, soorlu etnografit
(inuit kulturiinik pissusiinillu
ilisimatusartut) – grækerit oqaasiannit
“ethnos” (inuit) – kalaallit
pillugit oqaluttuartarnerat. Aappaa
tassaaginnarpoq angut inuusuttoq,
qaamasumik amilik, pisarneq malillugu
sinniisuusoq inissisimaffimmut,
taakkuninnga isiginniffiusumut, nassaarineqartunut,ajugaaffigineqartunut
allaaserineqartunullu. Kia
kina isigineraa ataasiinnanngorlugu
paasineqarsinnaajunnaarpoq.
Arkep assiliineq nunasiaateqartup
nassuiaanerinut pingaarutilinnut
ilaasutut oqaatigaa, pissutigalugu
tamanna atorneqartarsimammat
nunanik ungasissorsuarniittunik
ajugaaffiginninnernut uppernarsaatissatut.Nalunaarasuartaateqarneq-mi
(nalunaarasuartaateqarneq)
taama imminut oqaasissaqartitaaneq
assit namminneq qularnarsisippaat.
Mette Jørgensen
Pia Arke. Telegraphy. 1996
In the middle of it all stands
Samuel Morse (1791-1872),
American portrait painter and
inventor of the Morse Code
and of electric telegraphy –
from the Greek “tele” (distant)
and “grafein” (to write); that
is, long-distance writing or
communication. The word
reminds one of photography
– from Greek “fos” (light) –
which has often been used as
documentation of the factuality
of historical events.
The black-and-white photograph
of the statue of Morse,
which stands in Central Park
in New York, is the only one
taken by Pia Arke herself on
her visit to the city. The rest
of the photographs, coloured
blue by the artist, relate to
the journey the man in the
pictures made at the end of
the 1940s from Denmark to
Greenland to work as a telegraphist.
The man is placed next to
Morse; one of them on a
plinth, the other on a rock
photographed a little from
below. Both are posing, gazing
into the distance. The two
photographs form the centre
of the series, which extends
symmetrically with eight photographs
on each side of them
as a kind of mirror image of
one another.
On the face of it there seems
to be a logical opposition
between the photographs on
each side. Especially in the
first row where the man on
one side has his arms around
two Danish women and on the
other side around two Greenlandic
women. The water’s
still, sharp reflection of the
landscape. The picture of the
house seen from outside, and
the picture seen from inside
the house looking out.
But the further one moves out
from the centre, the more the
repeated oppositions become
a question of form rather than
of meaning. Telegraph mast
and ship’s mast, ship’s ropes
and telegraph cables; the
housewife bending over the
table and the hunter bending
over his kayak; bow of a
ship and a man’s body seated.
The oppositions are formal,
things that resemble one
another, but it is not given
what the connection between
them signify. The given logical
mirror reflection is distorted
and expands the space of the
oppositions.
The series tells a story about
the other, in the same way as
ethnographers – from Greek
“ethnos” (people) – have told
about Greenlanders. Here,
however, the other is a young
white man, someone who
traditionally represents the
position from which the world
has been seen, discovered,
conquered and described. It is
no longer clear who is looking
at who.
Arke has defined photography
as an important part of the
colonial language, because it
has been used as documentation
of the conquest of distant
regions. In Telegraphy doubts
are raised as to such an
authority by the photographs
themselves.
Mette Jørgensen
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