Imaging the Arctic

The 1996 conference, Imaging the Arctic, was the first to be dedicated to photography of the people of the region, and the proceedings from this conference were made into a book. 

Bringing together photographers, archivists and anthropologists, the conference looked at history, technology, gender, and much more, and this was all drawn together in the publication, now in the collection at the studio. 

The people from the North have long been a fascination for their unique clothes and costume. Making use of skin, fur, beads and bone, these utilitarian articles are often richly decorated. The photograph on the front of the book was rediscovered in 1987 by George Qulaut of lgloolik, who was looking through a 1904 archive of pictures taken in the Canadian Arctic by Geraldine Moodie. The photograph, in the British Museum, is of George's grandmother, Odelle Panimiraq, resplendent in a beautiful beaded costume from the area. The book, pictured, is filled with these types of images, an invaluable record of how people dressed and lived.