Project: Seven Subjects
Funding based touring exhibition
The Sun and the Moon
Wall lamp and floor lamp; Stainless steel, linen fabric and various embroidery thread
Based on the Inuit creation myth about the sun and the moon, the wall and floor lamp represent the encounter between Inuit and Western culture and religion.
‘The Sun and the Moon’ is a story of a man who falls in love with his sister. The despised sister flees into the darkness followed by her brother, where they eventually rise into the air. She becomes the Sun and he becomes the Moon, which forever follows her without ever reaching her.
The wall lamp represents the Sun; the female gender. A linen fabric, with an embroidered pattern that mimics rays of the sun, appears in off mode. Opposite, a pattern inspired by the pearl collar of the female West Greenlandic national costume appears when the
light is switched on. The frame draws references to the Greenlandic drum, an embroidery frame, the crucifix and finds inspiration in the anatomy of a whale.
The floor lamp represent the male gender, and has more of a masculine appearance. Furthermore it is designed to give the impression of movement as if it was chasing the sun. The half circle construction can be adjusted in height.
The encounters between Inuit and foreigners such as the whale hunters and Christian missionaries are represented through details in the lamps, such as the beads that came with the whale hunters and the references to a crucifix in the constructions of the lamps.
Project supported by Sermeq Puljen, Louis Hansen Fonden and Statens Kunstfond.
