Inuit art has found its way to some surprising places and into remarkable situations around the world. In that respect, Inuit art can certainly teach us to expect the unexpected! West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative caught up with Martha Cerny of Museum Cerny, which showcases the art of the North in the heart of Bern, Switzerland.

To begin, perhaps you could tell us more about Museum Cerny. How does an organization dedicated to circumpolar Inuit art find its way to Bern?

Fortuity, I think is the best way to describe it. To back up a bit, Peter and I met in the 70s while we were working in a hospital which was built on reserve land on the Sechelt Peninsula in British Columbia. The surgeon with whom we worked often went up to Inuvik in the North West Territories to operate. Therefore, we had contact with the First Nations and heard stories about the Inuit from the surgeon. Peter returned to Switzerland to continue his studies and I joined him. In the early 90s Peter saw an advertisement in a Swiss newspaper regarding an Inuit collection for sale. We were quite impressed with the sculptures, stonecut prints, silkscreen prints and batiks. According to the seller, the collection had been brought to Europe by a German friend of the former Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau. The name of the collection came about when we were asked to participate in an exhibition in 1997 in Zurich. We decided to call the collection the Cerny Inuit Collection to give the public an idea of what the collection included. Circumpolar art was added in 1998 when we had the opportunity to purchase artwork from the Uelen Atelier in Chukotka AO. It was the beginning of our work with artists in Siberia.

Can you tell us more about the collection?

The collection has grown from 110 to over 1,100 pieces. We have learned and are learning so much from the artwork, about the artists, their cultures, their environments and their challenges. Each piece has a story encompassing a great deal of knowledge.

What are some of the highlights and is there Cape Dorset representation in the holdings?

Cape Dorset is well represented in our collection. We are fortunate to have many highlights, which makes it difficult to answer your question. As you are aware, climate change is a main focus in our exhibitions. The 2001 sculpture, Composition, by Kellypalik Qirmirpik is a tangible illustration of how connected humans should be with Nature and how precarious it is to keep one’s balance with Nature in today’s world, as is the 1960 stonecut by Kenojuak Ashevak titled Mother Earth and the 1983 lithograph from Pudlo Pudlat, titled Vision of Two Worlds. Qavavau Manumie’s drawings, Polar Bear in Broken Ice, Dogsled on Ice Floe or Polar Bear with Two Heads also deal with today’s issues of the ice conditions and anomalies in nature. There is also Jutai Toonoo’s drawing, Thin Ozone that is unambiguous. Oviloo Tunnillie’s 1996 depiction of Sedna serves as a reminder of the importance of behaving correctly.

What kind of programs do you present at the museum? Who visits the museum? And, can you characterize the audience response to Inuit art in Bern?

At the museum, we offer group tours, organise lectures, have children’s events twice a year and participate at Bern’s Museum Night. I’m happy to say that we have quite a mixed group of visitors, from kindergarten, first and second grade children, to university students, Arctic researchers and their colleagues also clubs and retired teachers. Over the years I have the impression that our audience has gotten younger. No one has ever left the museum without being incredibly impressed at the variety of topics addressed, the material being used and the poignant, moving feeling emanating from the works.

In addition to programming at the Museum Cerny, you also organize exhibitions at international venues, with an emphasis on the environment and climate change. Can you tell us more about those projects?

It has always been our opinion that voices from the original inhabitants of the Arctic should be heard, especially at high profile venues dealing with Arctic issues. Art exhibitions, we feel, are a means to have voices heard and understood. In 2018 with the endorsement and support of the Canadian Embassy in Iceland, we exhibited artwork from Nunatsiavut, Nunavik, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories first at the Vigdis International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding in Reykjavik, then at the Arctic Circle Assembly, where we also organised a breakout session, which included a recorded presentation by Marilyn Jensen, member of the Inland Tlingit and Tagish Khwáan, from the Yukon. The exhibition was received so well that we were asked to exhibit at the Arctic Frontiers Conference in Tromsø, Norway, with the generous support of the Canadian Embassy in Norway. Then the exhibition went to the Museum of World Cultures, a national institution in Gothenburg, Sweden, again with the generous support of the Canadian Embassy in Sweden. This exhibition, Voices from the Arctic, was very special because the curator, Martin Schultz and I had the idea to do the entire exhibition in Inuktitut, in honour of the United Nations year of Indigenous languages. It was also a pleasure working with the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative in getting the translation so that we could actually realise our idea. Brochures in English, French, Northern Saami dialect, Swedish and Inuktitut were made available to the visitors. This exhibition was extremely successful during its run, from May to November 2019, with 25% of the visitors coming to the museum just to see it. I have two guest books filled with positive comments in ten different languages. It is also noteworthy to mention our exhibition at Polar2018, where around 1,000 researchers who work in the Arctic and Antarctic came together in Davos, Switzerland in June. During the conference we exhibited pieces from the circumpolar regions that mirrored scientific findings. Polar Knowledge Canada had an evening event at the exhibition and were impressed and fascinated with the artwork related to their work, that they had never seen before.

Our current moment in history presents us with much uncertainty and many questions. This new environment has shifted typical discourse and pre-empted usual thinking. In light of this, how has the relevance and role of museums shifted? Are there concerns or opportunities that you’re thinking about, moving forward? 

Yes, this time in history is very interesting. It has shown that the human impact on our environment has been negative and has reinforced, or for some introduced, the philosophy of a more holistic thinking, which peoples close to nature inherently have. It has also shown that we humans have it in us to do something which has a consequence on our air, our water, our environment and to think about rectifying our value system and to think about our legacy for future generations. This is what we communicate through our exhibitions at the museum. The artists certainly provide us with enough material and food for thought and it is my impression that our public is hungry for these thought provoking works. Moving forward is another interesting theme. During this timeout, we have been restructuring our museum. We plan on continuing and intensifying our work with universities both here in Switzerland and internationally to give a platform for curators, museologists, students, especially those in Indigenous-interested Arctic studies, and of course we’ll continue with our school programmes and welcoming our regular visitors. In the future, perhaps we can even offer an artist-in-residence programme. As mentioned earlier the name, Cerny Inuit Collection, came about to describe the collection. Although the major amount of the artwork is from Inuit artists, today this name is no longer completely valid. So we are in a process of change. Stay tuned.