Sedna, the story tells us, was a strong willed young woman who refused all suitors her father offered her and was determined to find her own love. She finally escaped her father’s home to her lover’s only to find out she was duped by a sea creature disguised as a man. When the father came to rescue Sedna, the angry seabird started a horrific storm. The father fearing for his own life, pushed Sedna into the waters and cut her fingers off so she would not be able to pull herself back onto the boat. It is said that at that moment Sedna turned into the Mother of the Sea who ruled over all life in the ocean.
The artist spent four months living with Polar Eskimos in 1995, 1998 and 2002. Her unique experiences translated into photographs, which resulted in publishing a book titled 'Inughuit.' This photograph was taken at a pink-painted house belonging to the hunter Pilutaq. Pilutaq was away on a hunting trip and would have been surprised to arrive home to find an unknown qallunaaq – westerner – sleeping in his bed.
Self Portrait is one moment among many, in an intimate journey of self-reflection: "These memories take me back to Thule, to Northwest Greenland. When I close my eyes I am in Thule, and the silence is perfect. Bluish light dances across the snow. The silence is broken by a loud crack. An iceberg splits. In Thule there are no roads that I could take to get a way. I follow my own paths." |
