Inuksuit
“Inuksuit” are stone landmarks placed throughout the Arctic as pointers for navigation, reference points, or markers for hunting grounds. The earliest examples were built by the Tuniit people more than 2,000 years ago. "Innunguait" are objects in the shape of a human, as this nakkatain*, a marker that points to a good place to fish.
A large feather rock was broken to produce the pieces for this nakkatain. Hidden in the base is a miniature pump which creates a cascade down the figure. Flanking the figure are low rocks planted with dwarf ivies. The tray was fabricated of recycled Corian material. The inscribed characters at the lower right corner are the Chinese characters for “shan” (mountains) and “chuan” (streams).
*Hallenday, N. (2009). Tukiliit: the Stone People Who Live in the Wind. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press. p. 76.
