tupilakosaurus - Print matters!

pineqaatissinneqarsimasut
suleqatigalugit. Qulequtaqanngitsoq.
1994-ip missaani
eqqumiitsuliortoq inuusuttoq ullut ilaani takkuppoq.
Tusarsimavaa, eqqumiitsuliortunik
pulaarneqarsimasut, sapaatillu akunnerisa
naanerini sulisussaannginnerini aallutassaaleqinerisa
nalaanni ikiuukkusunnini
neqeroorutigalugu. Tamanna pivoq 1992
eqqaanni. Kalaallit pineqaatissinneqarsimasut
pillugit uanga nammineq marlunnik
atuakkiorsimavunga, kalaallit sakkortuumik
pineqaatissinneqarsimanerup saniatigut nunamut
allamut ilisimasaqarfiginngisaminnut
nassiunneqarnermikkut erloqissuteqartunit,
annertuumik sunnigaasimavunga. Amerlasuut
qallunaatut oqalussinnaanngillat avammut attaveqarsinnaanatik:
ilaquttaminnut, ikinngutiminnut
kulturiminnullu attaveqaratik.
Pia Arke kalaallisut oqalunneq ajoraluartoq
ilamittut misigisimavaat. Takkuppoq iliuuseqarusunnermigullu
qaamanermik eqqussilluni,
kikkuuneri ilisimanagit eqqumiitsuliornermilli
ilinniartinniarlugit. Nalunngilara aallartinniarnera
ajornakusoorsimasoq. Tamannalu
aqqutigalugu immitsinnut ilisarisimalerpugut.
Arke alapernaatsuuvoq, ornippaangalu
angutit eqqumiitsuliornermik ilinniartitassani
kikkuunerinik paasiniaalluni. Takkuppoq
tunniussilluni, sapaatit akunnerisa naaneri tamakkingajallugit
ilinniartitani tunniusimalluni
peqatigisarpai. Ualikkut peqatigalugit angutit
ataasiakkaat immikkut pisariaqartitaat naapertorlugit
saqqummiussisittarlugit.
“Peqataanera uatsinnut pingaaruteqarsimaqaaq.
Aallaqqaataani pingasuinnaalluta
ilinniarfigerusussimavarput, ilattali
paasigamikku uatsinnut qanoq pingaaruteqartiginera,
ilanngussuupput, naggataagullu
tamakkingajalluta peqataalerluta”, Ole
Møller oqaluttuarpoq, Herstedvesterimi
sivisunerpaammik inissinneqarsimasut
ilaat. “Pinerluttutut eqqarsaatiginngilaatigut,
nunaqqatitulli immisulli nunami
peroriartorsimasutut isigaluta. Kulturerput
eqqarsartaaserpullu ilisimavai, naak kalaallisut
oqaluttuunngikkaluarluni, itisuumik
ataqatigalugu misigisimavugut. Sapeeqaaq.
Pissarsisikkusuppaatigut, ataasiakkaarluta
unammisassaqartinniarsaraatigut,
sulianillu arlalinnik pinngortitsiniarnitsinni
suleqatigiinnissarput piumasaralugu.
Eqqaamavara, assavut isikkavullu qalipaatinut
misussinnarlugit avatigut imminnut
naapitsinnerisigut sapinngisatsinnik sanatittarpaatigut.Eqqumiitsulianik
angisuunik pilersitsivugut,
oqaluffimmilu saqqummersitsilluta,
taamaalilluni Herstedvesterimi inissitat
allat saqqummersitanik takuniaasinnaalersillugit.
Silaqqikkaangat silami qalipaasarpugut.
Kikkut tamarmik takusinnaagunarpaat
uatsinnut qanoq pingaaruteqartigisoq.”
Tine Bryld
Pia Arke & Kunstnergruppen Fyn in collaboration with
Greenlandic inmates of Herstedvester Prison. Untitled.
C. 1994
At the high security Herstedvester
Prison there are many inmates who
have been given indeterminate prison
sentences or have been committed to
psychiatric care. The most extreme
penalty a person can be sentenced
to. Never to know when you will be
released. Encircled by a ring wall,
under surveillance and controlled
with a few hours daily yard time,
with each day timetabled and rules
from bygone times, Herstedvester
also houses Greenlanders who have
committed serious crimes against
persons, for there are no closed prisons
in Greenland.
No one thought that the need would
arise. The Greenland Penal Code is
based on resocialisation, not punishment.
The year is 1953: Progressive
Danish jurists and criminologists are
sent to Greenland while the country
is changing its status from being a
Danish colony to being part of the
Kingdom of Denmark. From being a
fishing and hunting society with many
settlements and towns to being an
industrial society with a population
that were to be wage-earners. Small
settlements lost their content, the
population concentrated in houses
and big blocks in the towns on the
west coast, where the fishing industry
developed. Many went to the dogs.
Many felt themselves to be spectators
of a development in which they had
no part. Crime and suicide followed,
and society could no longer find room
for so many who did not belong. The
deportation to Denmark of the physically
and psychically handicapped
began, and the first Greenlandic
criminals, who committed serious
offences against persons, were sent to
Herstedvester, which at that time had
a psychiatric leadership. It was probably
believed that these men would
receive treatment – at least it sounded
better than a closed prison. Three
more decades passed without a closed
prison having been built in Greenland,
and Greenlanders are therefore still
being committed to Herstedvester. In
recent years there have been about
20 of them – all with indeterminate
sentences. Many have been there
more than once; many have been there
between 10 and 20 years.
One day a young artist comes by this
hellhole. She has read that a group
of artists has visited the prison and
offers her help there at weekends,
when time hangs particularly heavily
on the inmates’ hands, and when they
are not obliged to work. This is around
1992. I myself had published two
books about the Greenlandic prisoners
and was deeply affected by the pain
we inflicted on persons who besides
receiving a severe sentence were sent
to a country they did not know. Many
didn’t speak Danish and were totally
isolated: from their families, friends
and culture.
Pia Arke didn’t speak Greenlandic,
but they felt she was one of them. She
came with light, commitment, but
without knowledge of the people she
would be teaching art. I know that it
was difficult at the start. We got to
know each other for that very reason.
Arke possessed a lot of curiosity, and
came to see me to learn about the
men she wanted to teach about art.
She came, she gave, she lived with
the group for hours each weekend or
at least many weekends. Afternoons
were spent together exploring the
individual’s special needs to express
himself.
“She meant a real lot for us. At the
start there were only three of us,
but when the others saw what she
meant for us, they signed up and at
the end most of us took part”, relates
Ole Møller, one of the longest-serving
inmates at Herstedvester. “She didn’t
think of us as criminals, but as people
from a country she had grown up
in. She knew our culture, our way of
thinking, and even though she didn’t
speak Greenlandic, we felt a deep
sense of affinity with her. She was
courageous. She wanted to teach,
she wanted to challenge every one of
us, but she also wanted us to work
together on one or more works. I can
remember we were to use our hands
and feet, dip them in the paint and
get the colours and our limbs to meet
and become what we could produce
together. It resulted in big works
that we exhibited in the church, so
the other inmates at Herstedvester
could come to an exhibition. When
the weather was good, we painted
outdoors. I believe that everyone could
see what it meant for us.”
Tine Bryld
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