Stitching My Landscape
(2017)
Within sight of the ancient Ibyuk Pingo near Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT, Inuvialuk artist Maureen Gruben installed Stitching My Landscape as part of LandMarks2017/Repères2017, a series of art projects in national parks and historic sites in commemoration of Canada’s sesquicentennial.
The artist’s performance was individual, yet reliant on community: uakkallanga! Thousands of feet of ice were pierced with 111 holes and threaded with crimson broadcloth, obliquely ribboned across the snow-covered siku (frozen sea). Vivid slashes of colour melded with the ice sheet. Together, they symbolize Gruben’s memories of her environment as well as concerns over melting permafrost and the loss of sea ice. One memory, esoterically viseral, is that of brilliant red intestines from a freshly butchered seal, lying upon the pack ice. Another evokes familial ties connecting past and present. Especially poignant is the visage of binding, the yearning to repair the human-wrought ravages upon the Arctic landscape. Emphasizing the fragility of her environment through the fugitive medium of ice and snow, Gruben has harnessed impermanence to impart a powerful and lasting message.