Traditional Inuit tattoos were almost wiped out under colonisation, but a new generation of women are reclaiming their heritage and ensuring the powerful markings make a comeback
Beautiful, striking and meaningful, Inuit tattoos, often done on the face and hands, have long been shamed in Greenland. In fact, the simple markings traditionally done with a needle made of bone and soaked in suet, were nearly eradicated altogether due to colonisation. But now, thanks to a new generation of young women taking pride in their heritage, the tattoos that their ancestors used to get are making a comeback.
Twenty-seven-year-old Aka Niviâna from Nuuk is one of them. "For me it’s incredibly meaningful," she says. "It’s a way to mark that I’m relearning my language. I’m reclaiming my face and body."
She got her first one, dots on her fingers and patterns on her wrist in 2018, and now has dots near her eyes and a tattoo on her chin. "They’ve been banned for so many years but now a lot of people are starting to get them again and attitudes are changing. At first people would ask me why I’m ruining my face but now it’s becoming normal."
For Sikkerninnguaq Møller-Sørensen, discovering the Inuit tattoo tradition was "a new journey of self-discovery.".
Niviâna chose dots because they symbolise healing. "There are different interpretations of the symbols and they can mean different things to different people. But for me dots represent healing and I was at a time in my life when I needed that," she explains.
A woman to woman tradition, the tattoos can also symbolise the region your tribe was from or a significant event in someone’s life, such as becoming an adult. But now, the new generation is attaching their own meanings which can be highly personal.
"Getting the tattoos was a very moving experience," says Niviâna, who works for a film production company. "I feel powerful. It’s reclaiming my heritage and taking pride in it in a different way."
"I feel powerful," says Aka Niviâna of her tattoos.
Carmina Guldmann, who’s half Danish, half Greenlandic agrees. "It’s made me feel connected. Some of the patterns are over 4,000 years old. Knowing that women have worn them before me makes me feel that a piece of their power also lives on in me."
When she first got them two and half years ago she faced some disapproval in her home country of Denmark. "Here it’s frowned upon to have tattoos on your hands on face. It’s not widely accepted. I thought what matters more to me? The society I live in today or to honour my ancestors. I chose the latter."
As it’s a tradition that’s passed down through females, Guldmann asked her aunt’s permission before getting her tattoos – she has a pattern on her chin, lines near her eyes and dots and lines on her hands. "My Danish side of the family wasn't happy about it but when I showed my aunt she said it was so pretty."
Guldmann, 28, studying for a degree in social education, also had a wonderful encounter with an old Greenlandic woman in the street one morning. "She touched my chin with her thumb and caressed the tattoo. It was so lovely. It’s easy for a Greenlander to recognise the patterns."
For Guldmann and others, the tattoos are a way of taking a stand against euro-centric beauty standards and celebrating their indigenous identity. "For many years for me there was so much shame about being Inuit and who I am so for me it’s me reclaiming what I wasn’t allowed to be."
It’s a feeling others can relate to. "I went through my whole childhood being ashamed of my heritage," says Sikkerninnguaq Møller-Sørensen. "When I found out about these traditional tattoos that was the beginning of a new journey of self-discovery for me." The 23-year-old has a full sleeve and is planning to get the other arm done next year and tattoos on her forehead and cheeks. "It’s super empowering," says the student from Nunarput. "Inuit people have long had a bad reputation. People say they’re alcoholics or addicts etc. It’s time to rebrand that.
"All my friends think the tattoos are gorgeous."