Christine Kay
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Nov 04/02) - Brian Lunger said the best part of his job is finding the story behind a piece of art.

He is the manager/curator of Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit - a job he said he just lucked out on.

Brian Lunger is the manager/curator at the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit. . - Christine Kay/NNSL photo

News/North: How long have you been in the North?

Brian Lunger: Since October of 1998.

N/N: Was this your first Northern experience?

BL: I was in Hay River years back. I'm from Victoria, BC.

N/N: What kind of work did you do in Victoria?

BL: I did some volunteer work with the Royal Victoria Museum, formerly the provincial museum. I worked in some galleries. too.

N/N: Did you see a lot of stuff you didn't expect when you got here?

BL: I didn't really come with any preconceptions. I knew the traditional culture more than the settled culture that we see here today. This is kind of the big city and people are from all over the place. If you go to a small community, people tend to be more from the area. It's not as fragmented of a community. I was open for whatever was here.

N/N: So how did you get the job at the museum?

BL: This job became available. I just sort of lucked out. It was posted in the paper and I applied.

I guess with my background in anthropology and some experience working in similar facilities made me a good candidate. I've also been fascinated with the circumpolar cultures, especially Inuit.

N/N: What do you think the museum brings to the community?

BL: I like to think that maybe I can facilitate things a little bit with the job here.

It's always been difficult to get Inuit to come into the museum but sometimes we've had elder speakers series and stuff like that. It creates a little bit of communication and presents the culture in what I hope to be a respectful man/ner. It also helps people understand each other.

N/N: Why is it difficult to get Inuit people to come in?

BL: Well for one thing it's probably a bit alienating to see your culture presented in display cases.

It's a little bit removed although there's always a respect. I can see this when people come in and look at things, especially the pictures. That's probably the most popular attraction for local people is to look through the photograph collection.

A lot of what we have is art work here too and maybe there's not as much of an interest for Inuit people. It's more something that's made primarily for sale.

That's not to say people can't appreciate it but maybe the interest is not that great.

N/N: Where did the photo collection come from?

BL: Wherever we can find it really. Some we got from different museums and archives that we've purchased or that have been donated. We got some collections from people that lived up here in the early days of the community.

N/N: Which collection stands out in your mind?

BL: We got one not too long ago actually around the time when the territory was formed in 1999. The woman was a teacher up here. She's in Australia now and she came back 40 years later. She donated these photographs and she hand-wrote the story of her life up here on the back of these pictures. She tried to give recollections of what was in the photographs. I thought that was really quite something. It's like having a diary with photos rather than just a stack of photographs.

N/N: Who runs the museum and how is it funded?

BL: It's a non-profit organization. The society has a board of directors who act as my boss. Currently there are nine people on the board and we meet on a monthly basis to discuss business and plan/planning. The museum is funded by the Government of Nunavut through the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth. We also do some of our own fundraising.

N/N: Are you the only full-time employee?

BL: Yes. There's Jimmy who's here on the weekend to keep the building open. He's born and raised here so he's a great person to talk with about the community.

N/N: What does the name of the museum mean?

BL: It means 'Everything that you would need to live on the land'. The museum was incorporated in 1968 and that's when the name was chosen. I don't know why it was chosen but I think it's a very appropriate name. Even with the art work in most cases, the materials and the inspirations come from the land with the wildlife and the culture. It's completely based on the land.

N/N: What's coming up at the museum that people should know about?

BL: For certain, there's some photo exhibitions coming up. We're hoping to get a computer station and digitize all of our photos so that people will be able to come and look at them on the computer. People will also be able to provide any information they have on what they see in the photo. Hopefully some more oral history projects like we did without elder speakers' series.

N/N: What are your plans for the future? Will you stick with the job?

BL: I don't think I'll be here for the rest of my life but it's just an interesting place. It's totally unlike anywhere I've been before. I think it's an interesting community -- just the diversity of people here. I've met a lot great people. Everybody has been really friendly and helpful. People seem to pull together and help each other out. I like that.

N/N: Where do you think you'll go when the time comes to leave?

BL: It's hard to say really. B.C. is home for me, I think eventually I'll be back there. I'm not sure where, but I would like to go back to the west coast. I'm in no hurry to get back. I'm not counting the days or anything. I'm happy to live here for a few more years at least.

N/N: What's the best part of your job?

BL: Meeting Cornelius Nutaraq from Pond Inlet. The man has made some really impressive pieces and he's just a really humble guy who says he's not so good. Hearing the real stories behind some of the pieces as well.

A lot of what we have in the museum was collected by arts and crafts officers back in the day. They pretty much just wrote down a name and a date.

There probably weren't even interpreters around at the time so maybe they just kind of gave it their own title or something. There's a lot of work to be done in this regard. It's always nice to know the real story.