Inuksuit, in my opinion, are vastly overexposed as a cultural symbol. From a huge one in Hay River (not the tundra) to the Olympics, to every cheesy souvenir that has Nunavut written somewhere on it, they are impossible to avoid. Which is too bad really, because they should be iconic, they are a perfect symbol. If only they weren't everywhere.
There are probably, in the accessible areas around here, very few inuksuit that one might call "genuine". Take the inuksuq in the foreground of the photo. LIchen covered, classic inunnguaq shape, looks like it has been part of the land forever. In reality, it and the other two in the picture were made by workers at the new Airport near town. I would venture, that most you can see easily from town are made by non-Inuit or by Inuit in the Nunavut version of "Kilroy was here." I'm just as guilty, Leah and I have made at least one, high on top of a hill. Not a very good one as it turned out, it was felled in huge windstorm that same year (I noticed that a replacement has been built in its place).
One of the few "real" Inuksuq that I knew of near town, was also felled in that same wind storm. Inuksuit serve many different roles,one of which was to point to good fishing spots. These are in pairs, line them up and they point in the right direction, the spot is off shore the same distance as the two inuksuq are apart. Brilliant, brilliantly simple.
I've also heard recently about the inuksuit that are used to funnel caribou towards hunters. Apparently very old ones exist nearby, down at the end of Adam's Sound, half buried in the tundra. I'd love to get out to see them one of these days. They are a tangible connection with the history of this land. And I'll take that connection over iconolatry any day. No matter how photogenic they are.
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Couldn’t agree with you any more in regards to the over-use of Inuksuit as a symbol for nigh on anything and everything. While in Vancouver over Christmas, I was looking to buy some non- Inuksuit souvenirs to bring back with me, which wasn’t easy. Which is why I didn’t buy anything connected with the Olympics…
It is too bad allmycke. They are a powerful image. Just hate to see it diluted so.
When I worked for CBC in Inuvik, I did a story about an art dealer who came to the Great Northern Arts Festival hoping to find a wide variety of images from all over the north. Instead, he found polar bears, polar bears, and more polar bears. And some of them weren’t even any good.
Don’t even get me started on carved Inuksuq Megan…
There’s an island a bit south of you, say between Pond Inlet, you and Igloolik that is covered with very old inuksuit. I wish I’d take a picture of the spot years ago, but I was told it was a place travelers often ended up when going between those places I mentioned. At certain times of the year one could expect to be delayed on the island by ice conditions and with time on their hands, people built inuksuit. Lots of them!
I’ve never heard of the island Michael, and now I’m curious. My in-laws travel between here and Iglulik pretty much every year, so I’ll ask them. Is it on the Foxe Basin side of things do you know?