Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

RANKIN INLET - Repulse Bay will have a strong presence at the Kivalliq Inuit Doll Festival and Exhibit in Rankin Inlet later this year.

Several women have been working on their traditional dolls for the past six months in Repulse.

The group is headed by Susan Nuluk, who got involved with the project after being approached by festival organizer Helen AbenReynen.

Nuluk was able to secure some modest funding from Brighter Futures and the Repulse group began working on the dolls this past July.

While their numbers have dwindled since then, the women who remain are looking forward to the impact their dolls will have at the festival.

"We had enough women for two groups, which we rotated every two weeks until this past December," says Nuluk.

"It's not very much money, so there's only four of us left to make dolls for two weeks in January and March.

"We send the finished dolls to be stored in Rankin until the festival."

Nuluk made dolls to sell to the local Co-op when she was younger.

She says Kivalliq dolls could be popular with collectors if they were properly promoted and readily available.

"People in the south would be interested in owning Inuit dolls dressed in traditional clothing.

"When people see the dolls we're making, they're always impressed with them.

"So, there could be a market for them in the south."

Nuluk hopes to attend the Rankin festival, but realizes that may not be possible.

Like many things in the North, it will depend on whether there's money available for a plane ticket.

"After being so involved with the project and working so hard, it would be nice to be there.

"I'd like to see how people react to our dolls."

Nuluk says the Repulse women have had fun working together on the dolls.

She says even though they weren't paid much, it has put a few dollars in everyone's pocket.

"I had a lot of interest from younger people, but they couldn't find anyone to look after their kids while they worked on the dolls.

"We do have one girl, about 17, who's been in our group since Christmas, so that's been nice to see."