An artist, filmmaker, and storyteller originally from Greenland, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory begins her recounting of Inuit oral history at the Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre in Iqaluit as part of Parks Nunavut “Learn To” summer series on June 20.
She emphasizes that all retelling of Inuit legends begins with “Ilaangooq,” which translates to “it is said to be part of our reality.”
Although the exact details differ from region to region and dialect to dialect, stories like Sedna and Taloyoak, the legend of the fog, giants and the little folk, as well as the origin of the sun and the moon are ubiquitous. They represent, as Bathory explains, “the relationships that [Inuit] have with the animals are still there.
“Silly stories, lovely stories, perfect stories,” Bathory summarizes. “Our stories are full of love, mirth and information.”
She tells the audience that Greenlandic/Inuit and Viking tales are full of accounts of encounters with each other, despite both cultures being based on the retelling of oral history rather than a written language. “That’s how accurate they are... our stories are extremely powerful.
“I do not identify as traditional,” Bathory continues. Here, she points to the statue of Sedna on display behind glass in the visitor centre.
“It puts us in a box like that, behind glass, unchanging, unmoving... people all across the world can relate to colonization, whether it’s being on one side or the other... told to not tell our stories, not speak our language. We have lost our families. We had so many things broken... that is what has happened, and so there is this idea that tradition is something we should strive towards.”
Instead of tradition, Bathory says we should embrace the idea of being trans-customarian. Trans-customary is an art term used to describe a space between what is labelled “customary” (or traditional) and “non-customary” (or non-traditional). This is the place at the intersection of Indigenous knowledge systems and practices — known in Nunavut as Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit — with advances in technology. By already employing this term in everyday practices, Nunavummiut are already living in a “trans-customary” society.
“We are trans-customarian. We are Inuit. We will always be here. Our stories are always inside of us,” says Bathory.