September 30th, 2009 | By Nora Sawyer | Filed in Arctic History, IN THE NEWS, INUIT, Inuit Culture/Art, Uncategorized

Inside a brick building in downtown Montreal, Nunavik’s Avataq Cultural Institute is working to preserve the culture of Quebec’s far north.

The Avataq Cultural Institute’s new Montreal facility features climate-controlled storage, an indoor parking garage (so that artifacts in transit are shielded from the sun), and on-site security, all working to preserve Nunavik’s cultural heritage.

A polar bear sculpture by Kangiqsualujjuaq artist Willie George Etok

And, while it may seem odd to keep these precious bits of the Nunavik’s past in Montreal, a secure, climate-controlled facility like this one would be too expensive to build and maintain in the North, Avataq curator Louis Gagnon said.

But Avataq’s intent isn’t to bring materials down from the North unless they need special conservation, he said. Avataq simply wants to preserve its existing collection in a safe place.

From there, items can travel to institutions for exhibition, researchers can come in to consult materials, and — above all — Avataq’s collection will remain in good condition for many generations, he said.

“We don’t want to repatriate more items to the South— just the opposite,” said Gagnon, who hopes Avataq’s collection may some day be displayed in museum exhibitions in Nunavik , perhaps at the multi-purpose museum facility that people in Puvirnituq want to build.

Avataq’s art collection now contains about 1,400 works of art and other cultural objects, handed back to Avataq from the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs in the 1980s and then put into storage.

via NunatsiaqOnline 2009-09-22.

Most items in the collection have been photographed and can be viewed online at the museum’s website, with 360-degree views of many 3-dimensional artifacts.

Tags: Avataq Cultural Institute, canadian arctic, inuit art, inuit culture, Nunavik