Undergrad - Sensory Acts

Here are some examples of students’ experiential learning as part of the “Anthropology of Circumpolar Peoples” course, taught at the University of Regina. The course materials benefit from field work conducted as part of the Sensory Acts project. The aim of this exercise was to learn about the ethnohistory and ethnography of Arctic societies through direct engagement with materials and object of current and past use. Students produced replicas of these objects while conducting scholarly research on the history, context, cultural significance, and present-day use of each item.

Emma Kuski – Replica of a Drum for Dance (Inuvialuit)

Zi Anderson – Replica of Historical Copper Arrow (Inuit)

Noah James – Replica of Carved Particle Board Iggaak/Ilgaak (Inuit)

Dalton Frowen – Replica of a Kantele (Finnish)

I choose to build the Kantele based on my hobby experience playing guitar and bass. I never created any of the stringed instruments that I have played before and this project offered a unique experience to get closer to the design, build, and abstract knowledge aspects of string instruments. Humans and materials are in constant communication with each other both directly and indirectly. How we interact and interpret the material centres around the senses, body, and mind.

I connected to the Kantele by attentive observation during the build process. I was shaping the material as much as it was shaping my behaviour by giving me visual and tactile results through my actions. This project made me be more mindful and self-reflective of my own thoughts, senses, and environment. Nothing in nature is fully removed from humans but co-created by sustainable relations that we create between us and nature.

Joshua Javier – Replica of a Khan for Reindeer (Nenets)

I developed a fascination in how sleds are used as means of transportation in the reindeer herding and reindeer migration with the Nenets. The process of trimming, clipping, whittling a log of wood to a fully functional sled interested me in woodworking. I made this object to explore a couple of ways of using natural resources like pine to be made a sled for transportation and a proof that I can make a rendition of an entity I seek to recreate. Mindfulness and patience are virtues I will incorporate into other projects further on. I enhanced my ability to not be so attached with the results of a project but with the process of going there. Every cut, slit, chop, adds and removes the life of the wood which led me to practice mindfulness and work in unity with the materials I had to create this project.

In creating this sled in relationship with the research, sleds are not just wood pieces chopped and forcefully slapped together. They are pieces of nature that has been tailored to the lives of who uses them. By creating this sled, I gained a new perspective of how much history, guidance, expertise comes into a craft that some people would otherwise deem easy to make. Learn to work with the grain of nature, not against it as it can result into a breakage of systems.

Liam Fagan – Scale Model of an Itivimiut Aamutik (Inuit)

Danika Seib – Replica of an Ulu Women’s Knife (Inuit)

I have always seen Indigenous people on social media sharing their culture and telling us about things that are popular in their culture. One of those things was whale hunting and eating whale blubber (Maqtaqq). Maqtaqq interested me, but it was the type of knife they were using to cut it that intruiged me. It was an odd shape, and I really wanted to see the difference between a regular knife and an Ulu. Making the Ulu, I used materials that represent or look like what is originally used. It was very hard to get the shape of the blade right, because it isn’t quite a semi-circle.

Making this has made me realize that everyday items we use aren’t just regular items. There are attachments and memories that come with them. Everything has a significance to it. Creating the Ulu reminded me of what it’s like to be proud of yourself and proud of your work. Reading about the history of Ulu knifes not only changed my view of survival, it also affected my understanding of survival and how it makes and shapes a culture and a person.

Doris Akinpelumi – Paper Mache Replica of Igloo (Inuit)

Dalton Taylor – 3-D Printed Kamutiik Model, Painted Diorama (Inuit)

Ethan Moar – Replica of Carved Solid Wood Iggaak (Inuit)

Simon Preikschat – Replica of Polar Bear Packing Doll (Inuit)

For my project, titled ‘Mother and Franklin,’ I constructed a doll depicting a polar bear mother wearing a blue packing parka with a polar bear cub tucked in the hood. All items were hand-sewn out of a wool-polyester fabric. Details were added to the noses and the cub’s eyes with 11/0 Czech seed beads.

The concept of the packing doll was first imagined in the 1970’s by a group of Inuit women in Taloyoak, Nunavut. The first packing doll was a fish, made by the acclaimed dollmaker Peeteekootee Ugyak. Taluq Designs was created in 1995 under the Nunavut Development Corporation to facilitate and expand the production and sale of these dolls and other Inuit artwork.

Victoria Walter – Replica of Tuniit and Kakiniit (Inuit)

For this project, I decided to research and recreate Tunniit and Tunniit Kakiniit, not only on fake skin, but also on paper. Personally, I grew up loving tattoos, and ever since I turned 18 I have been covering my skin as my finances allow. Learning that Tunniit were a female-predominant practice (women were commonly the tattooers and receivers of tattoos), I wanted to learn about and depict such beautiful aspects of Arctic femininity.

For one part of this assignment, I wanted to bring life, accurate proportions, and clarity to some of these drawings, for reconstructive and visual aid purposes. Tunniit survive in part thanks to ethnographic and personal writings, collections, and drawings. Using my digital art skills, I wanted to bring life and clarity to the mix of drawings I gathered during my research. The portfolio that emerged brings to life the drawings, and it serves as a small artistic contribution to remembering this practice. My aim is to depict nothing else. In my opinion, Tunniit are a graceful and intimate encapsulation of qualities in Inuk womanhood and identity (representing toughness, beauty, gentleness, and achievement).

Olivia Parker – Replica of an Amulet (Iukaghir)