The project From the Floe Edge: Visualising Local Sea Ice Change in Kinngait, Nunavut engages with art history, visual studies, scientific analyses, and local knowledge to better understand the relationship between the community and artists in Kinngait with local sea ice change.

Early in 2024, Isabelle Gapp (University of Aberdeen), in partnership with Sarah Cooley (Duke University) and the West Baffin Co-operative in Kinngait, Nunavut, was awarded funding to conduct a two-year research project into the ways in which artists in Kinngait have, over the past 65 years, engaged with and depicted local sea ice conditions. Using printmaking and drawing, alongside satellite observation and sea ice data, From the Floe Edge examines the stories, science, and visual histories of the cryosphere by working across art history and glaciology, and in partnership with Inuit artists in Kinngait.

Photo: Sea Ice, Kinngait, March 2025. Photograph by Isabelle Gapp.

Through conversations and collaborations with local artists, hunters, and residents, who are inspired by and rely upon the sea ice, this project looks at an interdisciplinary, community-led, visually-oriented study of the sea ice and floe edge surrounding Kinngait to explore how, and if, our tools, visual and scientific might be used to understand and re-imagine our past, present, and future relationships with the sea and the cryosphere.

Last September, Isabelle and Sarah were fortunate to spend ten days in the community, as part of their initial consultation visit. Most days were spent up in the print studios, where they were also able to formally present the project goals to the West Baffin Co-operative’s executive board, thanks to William Huffman (Executive Manager) for facilitating this, and to WBEC president Pauloosie Kowmageak for his time and attention.

With the support of Audrey Hurd (Studio Manager) and Juumi Takpaungai (Asst. Studio Manager) they also co-developed plans for where the project should go next.

Photo: Kenojuak Cultural Centre and Print Shop, March 2025, Photograph by Isabelle Gapp.

In March 2025, Isabelle returned to Kinngait for two weeks to conduct project interviews, work with the studio archives, and travel to the floe edge under the expert guidance of local hunter Iqaluk Toonoo. Return trips are being planned for Autumn 2025, and again during the sea ice season in early 2026!

The project is part of the activities of the UArctic Thematic Network on Circumpolar Archives, Folklore and Ethnography (CAFE).

For more information about the project, visit the project page.

Isabelle Gapp, University of Aberdeen
Member of the UArctic Thematic Network on Circumpolar Archives, Folklore and Ethnography (CAFE)