Publications
Arctic Prisms explores the vital role of art and artists in the decolonization of Inuit Nunaat and Sápmi. This multilingual publication, featuring essays, visual contributions, and a conversation with artists, fosters new connections across Arctic communities by publishing in Inuktitut, Iñupiat, Kalaallisut, North Sámi, English, and French. In my chapter, "Sounding Home — Kalaallit Media Aesthetics in Personal and Collective Narrative Space," I analyze contemporary Kalaallit media aesthetics, focusing on how artists respond to Greenland's ongoing decolonial processes. The chapter discusses how works by Ivínguak Stork Høegh, Lisbeth Karline Poulsen, and Niviaq Korneliussen employ digital collage and photography to navigate complex issues of representation, language, and cultural identity.
Qummut Qukiria! explores the dynamic art and culture of Indigenous Circumpolar communities, from traditional practices to contemporary forms and practices like throatboxing. Through diverse voices, it examines topics such as cultural rematriation and the power of Traditional Knowledge in contemporary contexts, showcasing the vital importance of these expressions for cultural resurgence. My collaborative written contribution is a visual and poetic essay of my co-curated exhibition, 'Among All These Tundras' (with Amy Prouty & Heather Igloliorte).
My review of "How Institutions Think," (MIT Press, 2017) edited by O'Neil, Wilson, and Steeds, examines this edited volume's exploration of contemporary art institutions' formats, practices, and ethics, drawing on Mary Douglas's work on how institutions shape thought. My review discusses the book's engagement with debates around the role of the curator and the potential for institutions to enact social transformation. I highlight the book's attempt to move beyond the commodification of institutional critique (a kind of recuperation) by analyzing institutions from pragmatic, philosophical, and imaginative perspectives.
This book sheds light on the significant contributions of Nordic women artists, including figures like Hilma af Klint and Pia Arke, from the modernist era to the 1960s. It investigates the specific conditions influencing their work and offers alternative frameworks for constructing women's art histories in the region. My chapter, "Movement and the Living Surface," examines the work of Pia Arke and her Greenlandic contemporaries, Aka Høegh and Anne-Birthe Hove, arguing that their innovative use of artistic techniques like abstraction, seriality, and collage, alongside a focus on the performative body, constitutes a distinct Greenlandic modernism rooted in decolonial expression.
SPOTLIGHT!
To Be United with Instrument: Photography, Performance and the Legacy of Pia Arke
Inuit Art Quarterly 29.2
Summer 2016
This piece represents the culmination of my Masters research on the late Pia Arke—a remarkable artist who remained largely unknown outside Greenland and Denmark until recently. Writing about her work and praxis felt significant - here was an artist who boldly confronted colonial histories and ironies with creativity and sharp wit when few others were doing so. Looking back, I now see how her artistic practice anticipated the connections now flourishing across contemporary circumpolar arts. This piece honors not just her work, but the path she carved for others to follow. —cvh.
