Ivínguak` Stork Høegh
COVER SPOTLIGHT
In Greenlandic Inuk artist Ivínguak` Stork Høegh’s digital photo collage Eqqarsaatit // Thought (2023), we see a self-portrait of the artist opening her own head, underlaid with a pyrocumulus cloud. Is she being self-referential and making a commentary on mental health and wellness? Is the foreboding imagery of an eruption a commentary on the future of humanity? Interpretation is an integral part of Høegh’s work. She provokes contemplation in the meaning of her pieces, which often play with the circularity of time and place for Kalaallit. Inserting anachronistic elements into archival images of the people and landscapes of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), she effectively jars her audience into questioning their preconceived notions of what Kalaallit Nunaat should be and brings to light modern Kalaallit existence.
Høegh attended Det Jyske Kunstakademi—an art academy in Aarhus, Denmark—and is based in Nuuk, Kalaallit Nunaat. She has an extensive and eclectic body of work, including digital art, sculpture and painting. Her work often depicts themes of Indigenous futurity and highlights the exoticism that Westerners project onto the Arctic. As a subtle nod to Afrofuturism, which gave rise to Indigenous Futurism, many of her pieces pull from the same kind of exotification that Africa as a continent experiences, by juxtaposing imagery of African wildlife and plants with arctic scenes and environments.
Eqqarsaatit // Thought is a vision of duality, contrasting the sense of serenity on the subject’s face in soft pink and skin tone with the looming violence in teal. Høegh’s work is the perfect first impression for our issue on Arctic Indigenous Futurisms!