Arctic Arts Project- educating the world for a better future
Award-winning filmmaker Ashlei Payne and Ph.D. Researcher and Photographer Talor Stone have joined forces to produce a Tracing Thought Productions documentary about a community in transition. This film will follow the small indigenous hunting community of Siorapaluk as they navigate contemporary challenges to their way of life and push the limits of community adaptation and cultural resilience.
The Arctic Arts Project is collaborating with Tracing Thought to bring the stories and unique language of the indigenous people of this remote region to people around the planet. As Ashlei and Talor travel to Western Greenland, we want to support their expedition to capture how an indigenous, hunting culture is adapting to changing climate and an increasingly technological world.
Donate now to Tracing Thought's Expedition to Greenland
Addressing Change
Hunting Culture
in northern Greenland, there are less than 100 full-time subsistence hunters left. Those remaining are the very last generation of hunters with a memory of a world before climate change and modern globalization. These cultural practices represent more than just the history and spirit of the Greenlandic people. They’re a symbol of rich and diverse ways of living that are rapidly disappearing in our globalized world.
Language
We’re preserving an endangered language at risk of disappearing forever! Fewer than 700 speakers of the critically endangered Inuktun language remain. The production of this film will generate hours of footage documenting the stories, songs, and history of the Inughuit people all spoken in the critically endangered Inuktun language. This language – and the stories it carries – is at risk of disappearing forever, so we thought it would be a tragedy to let these cultural artifacts languish on a hard drive.
Make a Difference Now
A project like ours has never been done before. This will be the first film ever created in north Greenland where the story is told through the eyes of the indigenous community itself. We are living in the homes of community members to document not only their daily lives but also their own hopes and dreams. Rather than forcing the narrative, we are providing a spotlight for the Inughuit people to tell their own story. It’s their story to tell and we are honored to help make that happen.
All interviews and filming are done with informed consent and represent the true thoughts of the speaker within their authentic context. The themes and narratives developed are fact-checked in an ongoing process by Ph.D. Researcher Talor Stone who specializes in these topics.
Local translators and community members will be paid a fair wage. Our flights’ carbon offsets are factored into our budget, and we make it a high priority to ensure that our presence does not harm the local environment or cultural customs.
