Discussion between Sarah Beaulne and Thamusi Sivuarapik
Q: Are the traditional tools from Nunavut different than those used in Nunavik?
A:
I knew the traditional lifestyle but we don’t live that way anymore. I
was happy to see some traditions like qulliq (seal oil lamp) that we
don’t use here. We should use less Coleman stoves and artificial
lights, but they are so easily available. We buy them when we should
use more of our traditional tools.
When we paddled kayaks, our
tradition was to touch the paddle on the door of the kayak. The
qallunaq [Note – who are the qallunaq?] paddle differently, like this
and that. When we were not in a hurry, we used to paddle slowly looking
for animals and when we saw animals we would start to paddle faster,
with all our strength. We used to chase loons when they were about to
fly. But we don’t use kayait, anymore, like real Inuit.
Q: How do you think the movie is progressing?
A: When
you are acting, there are good and bad things. I want to show the way
Inuit really lived, even though white people might not like it. For
example, in times of starvation we used to eat human flesh when we had
no other choice! There are two ways of acting. One is kukulaq, when you
are pretending, and make it look real. But trying to make it look real
and trying to follow the director, is confusing. The other way is
ilututuuja (making your own idea). When we do ilitutuuja it works and
the director accepts us - we don’t even need to repeat a scene.
Ilututuuja is the best way. When I have to do ilututuuja, I do less
kukukalq. Using your own ideas and your own language, it’s very
comfortable like that.
