MAUREEN GRUBEN
RIVERSIDE PARK
Rising up from the shores of the Beaufort Sea, the Pingo Canadian Landmark area near Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories has provided wayfinding for Inuvialuit travellers for centuries — not to mention lookouts for spotting caribou, whales and other wildlife. For LandMarks2017/Repères2017, artist Maureen Gruben explored this landmark (which is cooperatively managed in accordance with the Inuvialuit Settlement Agreement) and its legacy of change, drawing on local knowledge of ice conditions to drill ice fishing holes on either side of the channel surrounding Canada’s highest pingo — the Ibyuq Pingo. Gruben references the Inuvialuit delta trim pattern that is often used to decorate parkas, stitching through the ice with red broadcloth that zigs and zags across the ice through an act of adornment that is an act of valuing the land.
Commissioned by Partners in Art for LandMarks2017/Repères2017
LandMarks2017 is created by PIA, presented by TD and is a Canada 150 Signature Project (landmarks2017.ca)
Maureen Gruben
Stitching My Landscape, 2017
HD video
6:10 min.
Photos: Devon Lindsay