Floe Edge

Floe Edge: Contemporary Art and Collaborations from Nunavut was an exhibition of contemporary Inuit art and fashion staged by Quebec artist collective Axe Néo-7 and curated by Kathleen Nicholls of the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association.[1][2] The exhibition featured contemporary works from 18 artists in multiple media, including videos, drawings, and fashion.[3] The organizers intentionally eschewed more traditional presentations of Inuit art such as soapstone carvings.[1] Floe Edge originally appeared at the Galerie Axe Néo-7 in Gatineau, Quebec, from January to March 2016.[1][4] The exhibition travelled to Canada House in London in September 2016.[3] It was presented at the Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg, Manitoba, from September to October 2017.[5][6]

According to the artist statement, the exhibit was named for the "floe edge" phenomenon of the Arctic spring, when the frozen Arctic Ocean begins to melt along shorelines, creating a constantly-changing seascape filled with ice floes. The name serves as a metaphor for the lives and works of the artists involved, many of whom do not work solely as artists, and whose other jobs often influence their art.[5][2]

Tanya Tagaq, an Inuk throat singer, performed a sung soundscape over a screening of the 1922 silent film Nanook of the North.[1] Visual artist Ningiukulu Teevee contributed drawings.[7] Landscape photographer Niore Iqalukjuak presented small-scale photographs of the Arctic.[1][8] A team of video artists collaborated on a large-scale video presentation called Gauge, which used time-lapse photography to show a series of shapes on a wall of show.[1][8] Sculptor Mona Netser presented Hunter with Kativak, a large-scale doll depicting a hunter with wild hair.[1] The sculpture was staged so that the hunter's spear pointed at a drawing of a polar bear consuming a walrus, which Leah Snyder of Inuit Art Quarterly said formed "a dynamic arrangement of hunter and hunted."[8]

Jewellery designer Mathew Nuqingaq showed a pair of snow goggles in sterling silver.[1][4] Another jeweller, Lavinia Van Heuvelen, presented pieces in ivory.[8] Contemporary sealskin fashion was represented in a lingerie set by Nala Peter and sealskin-covered high heels by Nicole Camphaug.[1] Reviewers found the fashion a highlight of the show. Paul Gessell described the items as "totally impractical, drenched in kitsch and thoroughly delightful, thus possessing all the qualities of the over-the-top garments seen on the runways of Paris or Milan."[1] He called the show "an upraised Inuit middle finger" to anti-sealing activists.[1] Snyder described the presentation of these items as "a wry critique on Southern expectations of Arctic fashion".[8]