Institute History
Description
Tupik is a feature documentary about two Inuit women, Holly Mititquq Nordlum and Maya Sialuk Jacobsen, who are from two very distant lands and find each other and their passion for traditional tattooing. These fast friends discover they have much more in common than they do differences, and their determination to revive traditional Inuit tattooing binds them against the society's norms and expectations. As Holly is tattooed traditionally like Maya has already done; they then find opposition in the most unexpected places. From Alaska they travel to each woman’s homeland Northern Alaska and Greenland to find the history in their own families and discover many stories of oppression and shame. With humor and steadfast determination they work to train and perpetuate the tradition.