the traveler As told to karin ström
A sucker for ice sheets Finnish photographer Tiina Itkonen can’t get enough of northern Greenland or the Polar Eskimos she’s photographed for 15 years
Uummannaq III 2007
My interest in Greenland was sparked by lage. The villagers told me I could stay good care of me. I’ll never forget the the legend of The Mother of the Sea. The at the hunter Pilutaq’s house while he time we took the children to meet Santa Mother of the Sea punishes the Green- was away on a trip. I was afraid he would Claus – we needed 27 dogsleds. We had a landers’ evil deeds by gathering all the come back and find a stranger in his picnic on the sea ice while they played. animals they hunt in her hair at the bot- house. Luckily he never turned up. An The local cuisine is delicious, with tom of the sea. I first went there in 1995. oil tanker took me to the next village, plenty of fresh fish, prawns, seal, rein- I was still studying photography at the Qeqertat, where a storekeeper’s fam- deer and lamb. My favorite Greenlandic University of Art and Design in Hel- ily offered me a bed on arrival. Little by delicacy is mattak, or raw whale skin, sinki and decided to spend six weeks in little, I learned some Greenlandic words a healthy treat with lots of vitamin C. Greenland taking photographs for my and got acquainted with the locals. The strangest thing I’ve eaten is kiviak, final exam project. I expected to find a stress-free way of or fermented auk meat, a Polar Eskimo From Nuuk, the capital, I traveled to life, and I wasn’t disappointed. Every- dish eaten in Qaanaaq. The birds are small villages in the far north of Green- thing happens immaqa agaqu – “maybe squeezed, feathers and all, into a bag land. It’s not easy traveling in a country tomorrow.” And the next day they say made from sealskin and buried in a box where there are no roads between cit- immaqa agaqu again. People live accord- underground. The delicacy is then dug ies. I traveled to Qaanaaq by plane and ing to the climate and the seasons. From up on festive occasions, when the rot- helicopter, and was given a lift to Sio- time to time, harsh weather prevents ten birds are easy to pluck and eat just as ‘‘rapaluk by a Norwegian sailboat. Siora- traveling between towns, as well as fish- they are. Kiviak smells and tastes like old paluk is the world’s northernmost vil- ing and hunting. To wait a day, or even cheese. It tastes better than it smells. a week, makes no difference. Nobody There’s so much beauty in Greenland. ö is in a hurry. There’s always time to get Judging distances is almost impossible, things done. with no trees or tall buildings to block 5 Favorites Altogether I have made eight trips to your view. An island that looks to be 2km Restaurant Ulo in Ilulissat for fresh fish and Greenland, each lasting about six weeks. away is actually 10 times as far. Most tasty meat. Hotel Arctic. Tel: +299 94 41 53. My most memorable trip was in 2002, beautiful of all is the Ilulissat Icefjord, a www.ulo.gl when I visited the Polar Eskimo villages Unesco World Heritage site. Some of the Hotel The Hotel Arctic has spectacular views of of northwest Greenland for the third icebergs look like pyramids, while others the Ilulissat Icefjord. Hotel Arctic, Ilulissat. Tel: +299 time. I was showered with invitations resemble whales’ tails. They can drift up 94 41 53. www.hotel-arctic.gl to birthdays and hunting trips. I have to 4,000km before finally melting. Store Ultima Thule in Qaanaaq. It’s full of beauti- wonderful memories of living and work- ful handicrafts and carvings made by locals. ing in Savissivik – hunting by dogsled for Tiina Itkonen, 41, lives in Helsinki. Her Tel: +299 97 14 73. www.turistqaanaaq.gl seal, whale, reindeer, musk ox, birds and work has been shown at the New York City Uummannaq is full of unforgettable sights; fish, catching auk seabirds on moun- Photo Festival, the Michael Hoppen Gal- the colorful wooden houses on the mountainside, tain slopes, playing soccer on sea ice. lery in London, and the Shiseido Gallery dogsleds whisking off in flurries of snow, mountain peaks obscured by veils of cloud, fishing boats My favorite place is Uummannaq, which in Tokyo. Her first book, Inughuit (Libris, resting on the frozen sea. means “town by a heartshaped moun- 2004), was a portrait of the lives and A view I never forget The Ilulissat Icefjord, the tain.” My hosts, Ann Andreasen and landscapes of Polar Eskimos. Her second icebergs drifting by like something out of a dream Ole Jorgen Hammeken, run the world’s book will be published by Hatje Cantz on their fateful journey. northernmost children’s home and take later this year. www.tiinaitkonen.com
24 Scanorama march 2010