DON’T TOUCH THE NATIONAL COSTUME! PURITY, AUTHENTICITY AND GREENLANDIC FASHION

Assistant Professor & ph.d. student: Rosannguaq Rossen The Department of Greenlandic Language, Literature & Media

University of Greenland - Ilisimatusarfik

AFRICA IS THE NEW BLACK

➤ Why do I start with Africa?

➤ The African fashion, art & literature and music is being used to mobilize a new image of Africa

➤ Young africans are telling a new story about the new Africa

➤ Local and diaspora artists and designers are branding themselves through the social medias

➤ Africa has been represented from others - diseases and war

➤ The image of Africa is changing

➤ It’s suddenly popular to be African

Photo: Christie Brown

“THE NEW GREENLAND”

➤ The same thing is happening in Greenland

➤ Greenlandic art, design, literature, the film and music industry is mobilizing a new story and a new brand

➤ “The New Greenlanders”

➤ Globalization has reached Greenland

➤ The young Greenlanders are branding themselves through the social media

➤ The world is noticing Greenland

Small Time Giants. Photo: Rosannguaq Rossen

Niviaq Korneliussen. Photo: sermitsiaq.ag

Art by: Ivinguak’ Stork Høegh

Art by: Maria Paninguak’ Kjærulf

Streetart in Sisimiut. Photo: Rosannguaq Rossen

GREENLANDIC FASHION

➤ The young greenlanders are branding themselves through fashion

➤ The fashion culture is growing

➤ The young Greenlanders are proud to wear something Greenlandic

➤ Cultural symbols

Photo: Inuit Quality Clothes of Greenland/Mads Pihl

REINTERPRETATION OF THE NATIONAL SYMBOLS

➤ The Greenlandic cultural symbols is being reinterpreted in new designs

➤ We are seeing more and more upcoming, local designers in Greenland

➤ Local and international designers are updating the cultural symbols integrating them into contemporary designs

➤ The sale of the designs is not only in Greenland - but also in other countries - it’s being globalized

Photo: Jyllands-posten /Camilla Stephan

FROM EVERYDAY USE - TO FORMAL DRESS

➤ One of the cultural symbols you see in fashion - national costume

➤ The national costume went from everyday use - to a formal dress today

➤ We use our national costumes in special occasions: weddings, baptizements, confirmations, funerals, children’s first Day of School and to entertain the tourists

➤ Some Greenlanders try to freeze the national costume into a static position, even though it always has been dynamic

Photo: Visit Greenland/Mads Pihl

FROM EVERYDAY USE - TO FORMAL DRESS

➤ One of the cultural symbols you see in fashion - national costume

➤ The national costume went from everyday use - to a formal dress today

➤ We use our national costumes in special occasions: weddings, baptizements, confirmations, funerals, children’s first Day of School and to entertain the tourists

➤ Some Greenlanders try to freeze the national costume into a static position, even though it always has been dynamic

Photo: Rosannguaq Rossen

BRANDING GREENLAND

➤ Björk was one of the first to use parts of the national costume, in new contexts, when creating a new choir back in the year 2001

➤ The debate over the use of the national costume in new contexts is not new, but goes back at least to the early 1990’s

➤ Greenlanders often use the symbols, including parts of the national costume when representing Greenland

Photo: http://www.bjork.fr/IMG/jpg/bjork-17-10-2001-paramount-oakland-04.jpg

Photo: Naya Fleischer Mølgård

REPRESENTING ‘THE NEW GREENLAND’

➤ The young Greenlanders who represent Greenland in the media have the need for references to their own country and culture

➤ The designers are using their own identity as an inspiration, in their search for a new contemporary identity

➤ Some of the Greenlandic designers and artists are living in Denmark —> forming some sort of diaspora

Photo: Rosannguaq Rossen

Photo: Rosannguaq Rossen

Photo: BT

THE SACRED NATIONAL SYMBOLS

➤ What happens when making the tradition untraditional?

➤ According to the ‘traditionalists’ you are not allowed to change the national costume

➤ When changing elements within the culture the whole culture will get un-pure and un-Greenlandic

Photo: RC Design

NEW DESIGNS INSPIRED BY THE NATIONAL COSTUME

➤ In 2009 the Danish designer Peter Jensen made a boot, inspired by the Greenlandic kamik

➤ A group demonstrated, wearing the national costume, and demanded that the designer should stop selling the boots

➤ He even got death threats

➤ A foreigner, a Dane took something Greenlandic and made it ‘un-Greenlandic’ and ‘un-pure’

➤ Different Greenlandic artists defended Peter Jensen and claimed that the Greenlandic culture would rather disappear if not integrated in a modern setting

Photo: Mads Pihl/Visit Greenland

REINTERPRETATION OF THE COSTUME

➤ It seems that people are getting more used to it

➤ In 2014, when working for the artists Cooper & Gorfer, the designer Bibi Chemnitz did not receive death threats…

➤ “I will call the police! You cannot treat the national costume like this! - Shouted an elderly woman, who also demonstrated her displeasure by flashing the middle finger"

Photo: Cooper & Gorfer, 2014

BECOMING GLOBALIZED

➤ Suddenly it is very popular to ‘be Greenlandic’

➤ The stigmatization of Greenlandic identity is coming to an end - and fashion has shown to be an excellent platform for negotiating identity

➤ Making room for the mixed and un-pure - rather than locking Greenlandic identity in tradition, essence and reification

Photo: Inuit Quality Clothes of Greenland/Mads Pihl