Join us as we open Our Land: Contemporary Art from the Arctic, sponsored by Barnes and Thornburg, LLP, and Dorit and Gerald Paul. This stunning exhibition is a production of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts and is the first exhibition of the Nunavut Territorial collection of contemporary Inuit art, and celebrates the growth of Inuit creative expression over the past five decades. Our Land is a collaboration between the Peabody Essex Museum, the Government of Canada, and the Government of Nunavut.  Sixty-four works demonstrate how long-held artistic traditions of the Inuit inspire contemporary sculptures, prints, fiber art, photography and digital media.

Two days of opening weekend activities (Nov. 15 and 16) will provide museum guests with an opportunity to explore Inuit culture and artistry through a variety of activities.

As part of the Eiteljorg celebration, the museum will welcome Inuit throat singers Kendra Tagoona and Charlotte Qamaniq. Throat singing, also known as katajjaq, is a musical performance found only among the Inuit (though similar overtone singing can be found in Tibet, Mongolia and other places). Performers are generally women who sing duets as they stand facing each other. One singer develops a short rhythmic pattern with brief intervals and the other fills the silence with another rhythmic pattern. The sounds produced by singers can be actual words or merely syllables created during exhalation. Once upon a time, the lips of the two singers almost touched, allowing once singer to use the other’s mouth cavity as a resonator. Inuit throat singing is sometimes accompanied by a rhythmic shuffling of feet.

 

Watch an example of throat singing:

 

 

 

(Note: performers featured in this clip will not be present during Our Land opening weekend.)

 
Cultural activist Peter Irniq will build an Inuksuk on the Eiteljorg Museum’s front lawn during Our Land opening weekend. An Inuksuk is a man-made stone landmark, of varying shape and size, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Yupik and other peoples of the Arctic. These structures may once have been used for navigation, as points of reference, markers for hunting grounds or as food caches.

 

Learn more about Inuksuks from Irniq:

 

 

 

Guests may also meet and purchase works from vendors of Inuit art, take curator-led exhibit tours, hear a lecture on the evolution of Inuit art and more.

 

Opening weekend activities have been made possible with support from the Inuit Art Society and a matching grant from the Indiana Humanities Council in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities, plus additional support from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust and the National endowment for the Arts.

 

 

10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sale of Inuit art

10 a.m. – 4 p.m.  Family Activities:  Finger Puppets and Animal Carvings

10 a.m.                Lecture: The Evolution of Canadian Contemporary Inuit Art
                              Lorne Balshine, President of the Arctic Art Museum Society

Noon                    Peter Irniq builds an Inuksuk on the museum’s front lawn

1 p.m.                  Tour of Our Land: Contemporary Art from the Arctic
                              Ashley Holland, assistant curator of contemporary art

1 p.m.                  100 Days on Baffin Island: My Experiences with Inuit Culture, Craft and Charisma
                              John Huston, Arctic explorer
2:30 p.m.             Throat singers performance

 
November 16

1 p.m.                  Public tour of Our Land: Contemporary Art from the Arctic

2 p.m.                  Indianapolis Women’s Chorus Concert: Sound Sport

7 p.m.                  Indianapolis Women’s Chorus Concert: Sound Sport