54 The Voice of the Far North
ᓂᐱᖓ ᐊᕐᕕᖅᑐᒥ
Iqaluit |
Canada
Inuktitut
Behind the scenes
Ever since I discovered Inuit art, I have been fascinated by the expressiveness and unique aesthetic of these sculptures, which seem to tell stories from another world.
This fascination led me to Baffin Island, in the Canadian Arctic, to encounter this culture and the landscapes that have shaped it.
In this text, I wanted to evoke those who are the true masters of time and place: the Inuit, who for centuries have been able to live in extreme climatic conditions. By contrast, Western explorers have often paid a heavy price, such as John Franklin, who disappeared with his 129 men while searching for the Northwest Passage.
The illustration brings together this Arctic imagination: sculptors, animals, explorers… and a leaf found in the snow, mysteriously carried there, reminding us that nature always retains an element of mystery. The tracks in the snow finally form the word Sila (ᓯᓚ), an Inuit concept that makes up the second part of the title LiberSila.
Echoes of the world
This text is written in Inuktitut, a language belonging to the Inuit language family, spoken across the Arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, and Alaska. On Baffin Island, where the city of Iqaluit is located, the main dialect is Qikiqtaaluk.
Like many Inuit languages, Inuktitut is polysynthetic: a single word can sometimes express an idea that would require an entire sentence in English. It also uses a writing system made up of syllabic signs, as seen in the word ᓯᓚ (Sila).
This term refers at once to the air, the climate, nature, and the breath of the world – a central concept in Inuit culture.
Today, these languages are the focus of significant efforts to preserve and transmit them, as they carry a unique knowledge of the Far North.
And you, have you ever felt, when observing a landscape, an invisible breath that seems to inhabit it?
To reflect and capture your thoughts, turn to the dedicated pages in the book.
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