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Our group was Ty, Kasey, Jo, Hilda and Taylor :)

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Charlize

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This is more along the lines of my own personal flag related to my heritage, however I cannot take credit for this as this was done by the artist Myrna Pokiak who created this beautiful piece.

Other details I might add would be a kayak with the delta braid pattern carved into it as kayaks were and still are rather important to the people of the Inuvaluit. They are a means of transportation as well as accessibility to hunt whale, seal, and many other marine life in order to survive.

Down below I will copy and paste all of the information regarding each item and its significance, quoted from Myrna.

1. Ulu

Ulu, a tool once made from slate, often found in art while its function continues to be for sewing and preparing food to feed our families. An Ulu is symbolic of Inuit throughout the world and from east to west Inuit can identify where the Ulu originated because of its shape. The Ulu in my design is symbolic of the Inuvialuit of the Western Canadian Arctic and the community of Tuktoyaktuk.

2. Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun, from time immemorial the midnight sun has offered its light for Inuit from the Arctic circle to the Northernmost regions of Canada. As it moves across the skyline the sun goes through a series of yellows, oranges, and reds, offering colours that are used in art and storytelling.

3. Ocean Waves

Ocean waves, a timeless event that Inuit watch in anticipating of hunting and traveling. Inuit have lived for millennia alongside the coast of the Arctic Ocean, connecting families and friends from Alaska to Canada to Greenland to Siberia. Harvesting and traveling along the coast and over the rolling waves has bridged our communities together. The vast Arctic Ocean has provided the nutrients from the mammals and fish generation after generation. As a child, my family has traveled along the coast by boat, dog team, snowmachine, and airplane from one hunting camp to another. I am an ocean girl at heart as so many other Inuit boys and girls can relate to.

4. Inukshuk

Inukshuk, a symbol of people, directions, connections, successful harvests, and our ancestors who shared the same scenery as we are gifted today. Inukshuk is also a symbol that Inuit in the East are known to use much more than in the West as rock is in abundance in the Eastern Arctic and Arctic Islands. I chose this symbol as I spent a month hiking at Tuktut Nogait National Park, outside of Paulatuk, a small community within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. I hiked for thirty days along the Little and Big Hornaday Rivers with three others documenting our history through the Archaeological artefacts that remain. The Inukshuk tells many stories of our ancestors. One beautiful memory is walking on top of high hills above the river and a line of Inuksuit stood from where I stood to as far as I could see. The Inuksuit were to resemble man and used to drive migrating caribou herds to a chosen hunting location towards hunters, who at the time used traditional tools, made with slate, wood, and bone. Since that experience, I have always felt a deep connection to Inuksuit as they are a symbol of Inuit from past to present and remnants of our ancestors that stand tall and strong, a reminder to myself never to give up.

5. Delta Braid

Delta Braid, a design that has been adapted from the traditional Inuit adornment on clothes with fur, hide, and materials, coloured from berries, plant roots, and most notably, red ochre rock to stand out with colour. Geometric patterns are identifiable features on Inuit clothing to tell a story of a family, community, and region. The patterns are often used in Inuit art and clothing, adapting to modern fabrics, beads, and threads that produce designs that connect us to our ancestors. I made my first traditional dancing parka and the inspiration for the trim came from my family of Inuit from the Western Arctic of Canada all the way to Alaska. I was gifted a muskrat parka from our Alaskan relatives, where the geometric patterns are a highlight of the parka. I have also been gifted a parka trimmed with Delta Braid made by my auntie Annie. This artform is signatory to families living in the Mackenzie River Delta area. The trim requires patience, colour, geometric patterns and is an artform that resembles people of the Delta, and most recently including our neighbors from the Gwich’in Nation with ties to the Delta.

6. Tusks

Tusks, a signatory design on Inuvialuit clothing with ties to Inupiat in Alaska. This illustrates the borderless connections Inuit across the circumpolar region have with one another and it connects me to my family’s history. I did my first degree at the University of Alaska and once I graduated, my uncle Boogie and father gifted me a trip to Barrow and Kaktovik, Alaska, to meet our relatives. This was the first time I truly made that connection to the clothing I grew up wearing and realized how similar we are to so many other Inuit in the world. Tusks continue to be used on parkas and other artforms including carvings, clothing, and accessories.