Evidentia

Damien Iquallaq showing me some of his extraordinary stone carvings

On a visit to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, I had the chance to talk to Damien Iquallaq, one of the great young Inuit stone carvers. He showed me some of his carvings, and answered a few questions about what motivates him to be an artist.

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George: Can you tell me about your family, Damien?

Damien: My great-great-grandfather was Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer. He pretty much founded the town of Gjoa Haven. He discovered the spot where Gjoa Haven is today. He was on a journey to map out the Northwest Passage. He had to find some place to harbour for the winter, and he came across this beautiful little harbour which is known as Gjoa Haven. The words Gjoa Haven come from his ship which was called the Gjoa, and he came to a stop, it seemed like a haven to him, a very safe haven, and that’s where he stopped. My grandfather was Nelson Takkiruq. He was from Gjoa Haven. There were four brothers – they were all carvers… My grandfather Nelson Takkiruq is the one I look up to the most. His brothers were all pretty much world-famous carvers who traveled around the world and stuff like that. But I don’t know – I wanted to be like my Tata, my grandfather.… Concerning the spirits, there is Nuliyayuk, the spirit of the sea. She controls the hunting of sea animals, pretty much. She controls pretty much how well the hunting is, whether it’s bad or not. She’s a very powerful spirit in Netsilik culture because in Gjoa Haven they rely a lot on the seals. So it’s pretty much up to Nuliyayuk whether the hunting season will be good or not…. There is also the fish maker, Kiviuk. He would chop blocks of wood, and they would turn into fish as they fell into the river.

A map of Nunavut - Cambridge Bay is in the centre left, Gjoa Haven in the centre

George: You do carvings of many spirits.

Damien: Yes, this is a drum dancer, a winged drum dancer – he’s a shaman. The wings represent his ability to fly or overcome any obstacles he may face. The drum is just to give him some expression and emotions. Drum dancing is a very important part of our culture, like it’s pretty serious art, I would say. The expressions on his face just show the hardships that people can go through in their lifetime. It’s a piece I am very proud of.

George: It’s very beautiful.

Damien: And here is a shaman, who is swimming underwater and traveling down to the bottom of the ocean to visit Nuliyayuk, to pretty much battle her because she has been withholding the animals from the hunters. So the people have sent one of their most powerful shamans down to the bottom of the ocean to battle Nuliyayuk so she could release the animals for them to hunt again. This carving took me about four days to get to this point.

Damien is working here with whale bone

George: What do you carve?

Damien: I carve mostly stone. I like to make shamans and spiritual beings. Pretty much like Netsilik folklore, or however I could say it.

George: What stone do you use?

Damien: This stone is called “Brucite” – it is a fairly hard stone. It is the first time I have come across it, and I actually like it. The harpoon is make of whalebone and his teeth and eyebrows are also made of whalebone.

George: What do you like so much about the spirit world?

Damien: I just totally believe in them, and like the elders in my family and stuff, they told me that these people really did exist, and it just – I don’t know, as soon as I started seeing the shamans and stuff, probably it just took hold of me, and that’s what interests me the most.

When I visited Cambridge Bay, some of the elders (like Margaret and Matthew Nakashook) told me wonderful stories about the great shaman-hero Kiviuk - they spoke to me in Inuinnaqtun (thanks to Emily Angulalik for interpreting). In fact their stories were about the same spirits as in Damien’s carvings.

George: Can you tell me about the spirit of lightning?

Damien: Yes, it is Qudluk. He is the spirit of lightning. He lives up in the sky, and he has two flint stones, which he bangs together to create flashes of lightning.

George: And you have made carvings of all these spirits. They are beautiful.

Damien: Thank you.

I met up with a muskox herd just outside Cambridge Bay