Sila, Sky Woman and Puhpowee: Reflections from Greenland, (work in progress) by Tinna Grétarsdóttir.

In times when Gaia “has the power to question us all” (Stengers 2015:12), humans have come to the moment of reconfiguring their humanity and relations with the world. Our species’ doings have evoked “the intrusion of Gaia” (ibid) which cannot be undone with techno-scientific solutions. While grasping how to inherit human history and survive on a planet in chilling transformation, we, the participants in the Chill Survive, have been weaving a meshwork of trails in the Arctic while attempting to spin human/non-human narratives and practices for the future North (see Ingold 2010).
In Greenland I was introduced to the indigenous concept of Sila, which is somewhat akin to the concept of Gaia, as argued by the Métis and anthropologist Zoe Todd (2016). At the National Museum in Nuuk, Sila is explained as a unity of the climate, the weather, the breath of a living being, consciousness and mind. As such, it interconnects human-nature relationships.

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Pia Lindman Reporting from Nuuk, Marraq, and Ilulissat in Greenland with Contributions by Saara Mahbouba, Valeria Nekhaeva, and Mirka Sulander

Videos from Marraq Marraq 1 Marraq 2 Marraq 3 Marraq, a peninsula 100km South West of Nuuk, is the location of a former US military base (West Bluie 4) that was shut down in 1948. Amongst delapidated equipment you can find barrels (jet fuel?), pieces of lead, and asbestos. I also found a pile of metal gravel, the grains of which were of a light grey color with a bluish tint/shine. This, like some tens of other abandoned US military bases in Greenland are slated for clean-up by the Danish and Greenlandic governments. This clean-up work has recently been allocated 300 M Danish Crowns. Ilulissat is located next to Kangia fjord (Unesco site). Sermeq Kujalleq glacier calves icebergs into the fjord and with its pace of 20 meters per day, it is one of the most active calving glaciers in the world. In the first video (Ilulissat 1) you will hear the sound of calving at 00min 31s, 01min 04s and again at 04min 14s and 04min 26s. (source: The Guardian 08.1...

Lauri Linna Researching Family Heritage in Kuusamo PART1

Lauri Linna: Maternal lineage A traditional kota in the Kitka siida. Now used for leisure. Arriving in Kuusamo after 12 h on train and bus from Helsinki. I take my bags to my grandmother’s place and get in Pia’s car. We drive to an area of Kuusamo that I can’t remember ever going to. I know that this is from where my grandfather’s line of fathers is, but not much else. We are trying to find remnants of the Sámi past in Kuusamo. I have heard, Sámi people used to live here before the settlers arrived from Kainuu in the South and Ostrobothnia in the West by the order of the Swedish King to farm and build houses. Since early childhood, I have wondered is this heritage in me. I’ve carried a strange feeling in me about it, but for whatever reason it has never been discussed in my family. Except for a joke my grandfather used to tell us: “Hey kids, we are lohilappalaisia (Salmon Sámi)! Hehehehehee! LOL. Just kidding.” He also used a lot of words that I didn’t understand. I ...

ONLINE WORKSHOPS 2020 - KUUSAMO

Chill Survive opened a new website in November 2020 offering art, poems, interviews, and essays. Kuusamo workshops were transformed for online participation in December 2020, and you can check them out below (scroll, scroll, and scroll further down...): From Reindeer Poo-to-Paper by Chan'nel Vestergaard and Littlepink Maker Gravitational Shift by Marie Kølbæk Iversen and Katinka Fogh Vindelev Singing to the Virus by Pia Lindman Pandora's Box by Rozan van Klaveren All workshops are realised in colaboration and with the support of Kuusamo city and and Ulla Ingalsuo-Laaksonen. Thank you! Workshop details and documentation below: From Reindeer Poo-to-Paper Chan'nel Vestergaard and Littlepink Maker This workshop gives you the protocols of how to make paper out of reindeer poo. The digestion system of a reindeer is so effective that its poo contains nothing more than fibers - and some microbes. This is why this material is well suited for paper-making. Let us up the up-cycl...

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