Gift for Maureen, 2024

During my Amauliq residency, I found a collection of aerial survey photographs. I cut a small section from one, adjusting the image using water colour, photo inks and pen, enclosing it in a case. Lines drawings of an Inuvialuit qajaq acquired by Knud Rasmussen in the early 1920’s are cut into the exterior.

What was the purpose of these images of land, resources and cultural artifacts? Faint traces of sovereignty maps, photo records of the arctic ocean and Beaufort Sea, a qajaq lines drawing , my own drawn alterations to the coast, each layer is a visual assertion of understanding ownership or authority.

Materials: Plywood, Photographic print, ink, paint, oil, brass hardware