1/My story about Inuit artist Ooloosie Saila was published this past weekend. She lives just below the Arctic Circle in Cape Dorset, a hamlet named the art capital of the country. It’s Inuit name is Kinngait, which means “high mountains” in Inuktitut. nytimes.com/2019/10/19/wor…
2/ It was enlightening experience for me as Canadian. We consider selves northern nation, but few of us go north - not only because it’s sunnier in Florida. 
3/The cost is prohibitive. I went to Cape Dorset 3 times for this story, and each trip cost $3,000 Cdn in airfare alone. Plus, the only hotel in town charges $315 Cdn a night.
4/ I expected that the hamlet’s history of art-making, since it was founded in the 1950s, would have shielded it from some of the north’s sad statistics. That’s not the case. Instead, Cape Dorset is among the poorest and most violent in the territory.
5/Two times I was there, the court was in town, running out of the community hall. Defense lawyers told me this was their busiest stop on the circuit, mostly for assault and sexual assault cases. Almost all of them involved alcohol.
6/Cape Dorset is a restricted town; you need be approved by a committee to legally buy alcohol. Many turn to the black market, where a bottle of vodka goes for $600Cdn — $140 less than the monthly welfare check a single person receives. There are no shelters or AA program.
7/There are few gathering spots in town - just one restaurant in the hotel, and a diner that was regularly shuttered. Most locals hang out at co-op general store. There’s a line up of snow mobiles out front at 5 pm most winter nights.
8/Many artists are reflections of their community with all the assorted problems. Some do not have phones, so I couldn’t call them to ask for interviews. Instead, I trudged through the snowy dark to their homes, and barged in without knocking — as is Inuit custom.
9/ Sometimes, I found them outside, making carvings. This photo was taken one night in December at 9 pm, when it was -30 out.
10/Johnny Pootoogook was one of the talented artists I met working at the new Kinngait studios. At the time, he was homeless, and couch surfing while waiting for social housing.
11/There is a housing emergency in Nunavut. Many of the homes I visited were run-down and crowded. Building costs are hefty because everything needs to be shipped in. Cape Dorset’s waiting list for social housing is 3 yrs long — relatively short, compared to other hamlets.
12/The town is haunted by Ed Horne, a convicted pedophile who taught here for 3 years starting 1978 & sexually assaulted 100 boys, by one estimate. It’s not hard to understand why locals distrust the education system. Of 30 kids who start kindergarten only 7 finish high school.
13/Hamlet councillor Chris Pudlat told me while art had helped some in the town, it could not fill an existential crisis. What he said stuck in my head till this day.
14/ "My grandparents were born in igloos or skin tents on the land, literally,” said Pudlat. "They had a role towards the wellbeing of the camp or family. They had a sense of purpose in life. That was taken away. They were just waiting for a hand-out from the government."
15/There are some locals who have managed to bridge both worlds and fashion a life as a modern Inuk. Quvianaqtuk Pudlat is one of them. His name translates to “happy or joyful” in Inuktitut.
16/ I met him on second trip there in January. He started drawing about three years ago, after an injury made construction work too painful. Like every single other artist there, he’s had no formal training. He’s just learned by doing it.
17/He draws animals he’s seen while hunting. Like most Inuit, being “on the land” isn’t just recreation for Quvi, it’s what makes him Inuit. He lived nomadically traveling by dog sled for first years of his life, before moving to town for schooling.
18/ When I came back in June, he took me out ice fishing one night. We set out by snow mobile at 8 pm, when the tide was low. The clouds were reflected in turquoise pools of water on the ice, making it feel like we were flying through the sky.
19/Most artists told me they dreamed of this — making enough money through their art to buy a snow mobile or boat. But the costs are steep. A snowmobile costs $14,000Cdn, and gas for one day of boating is $100. Few artists make that kind of money.
20/One government report said the majority make only $2750 Cdn a year. Quvi was making more, but still, he said, “it's not really making a living.” He wants to go back to construction and do art on the side.
21/At the end of my stay, I was left with the inverse question: Not why art had not raised the town’s prospects, but how artists managed to produce such spectacular work here. Check out the latest prints from Cape Dorset, released last weekend:dorsetfinearts.com/2019-annual-pr…
22/Thanks for following this long thread. And please check out my story and the stunning photos by @SergeyPonomarev here: nytimes.com/2019/10/19/wor…
