School in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., puts Inuit artifacts front and centre
Drum-dancing boots, parkas, crafts now adorn front lobby of Helen Kalvak Elihakvik school
A new display of Inuit artifacts at Helen Kalvak Elihakvik in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T, is exposing students to their history.
Adam Kudlak, a hunter in the community, has assembled a number of artifacts over the years and recently set them up in the front lobby of the school.
Kudlak says the project was motivated by a desire "to put our artifacts into a more open area so more people have access to seeing them."
The items include parkas, drum-dance shoes and a miniature kayak made with caribou skin.
"Some of these artifacts, we don't know hold old they are — if they were made in the 1900s or 1800s. Some of them could be a couple hundred years old," says Kudlak.
"Some of them were donated by people, some of them were made. But most of them came from the land."
Grade 7 student Dorian Kuptana got a kick out of one particular item: a one-piece child's parka with a hole in its back.
Goaded on by Kudlak, Kuptana explained: "For when the kids need to go to the bathroom."
Kudlak says he hopes to grow the exhibition over the coming years.
