A Keeper of Arts and a Keeper of Culture: Hanne Kirkegaard

NUUK, Greenland — Three months ago, Hanne Kirkegaard took over as the museum director for the Nuuk Art Museum in Greenland. Having grown up there with her parents, brothers, and extended family, she is able to attest to how important art is to the culture and community there.

The culture of Greenland is a stark contrast to the loud and bustling culture of America. In America, strangers make small talk a daily commonplace. It is rare to go anywhere and see people keeping to themselves.

“Our culture is stillness and quietness,” Kirkegaard said. “We speak to each other; we don’t speak to the whole space we are in. We listen to each other, and we listen to our surroundings. We give space to each other.”

Kirkegaard mentioned the fondness she had for spending time with family, doing activities such as hiking, fishing, gathering berries, and cooking over fires in the mountains during the summertime.

A large part of the culture lies in multiple forms and mediums of art. Whether it be song, dance, film, literature or crafting, each form is equally as important to the Inuit people and the expression of who they are.

“All these artforms are performed in our own language, Kalaallisut,” Kirkegaard said. “For a long time, music has been most impactful and important in our communities, but books, literature, knitting and annoraaq-making (anorak) as well as qilaatersorneq (drum dance) are in a revival. Qilaatersorneq entered the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list in 2021.”

The preservation of arts and culture in Greenland has been a struggle due to colonization. Denmark has had control over Greenland since 1721, where it started as a colony, before becoming an autonomous province in 1953.

“Colonizers have great difficulty recognizing the impact their administration and governance have on countries they colonized,” Kirkegaard said, “not just here, but also in Canada, the US, African countries, the Nordic countries towards the Sámi people and so on. Administration and governance, or control, through residential schools, forced sterilization, discrimination, etc. has had an impact, and still does.”

There are concerns that if America were to buy Greenland, it would change their way of life even further than the effects that Denmark has had on Greenland and the Inuit people.

“Capitalism is Greenland’s biggest threat,” Kirkegaard said. “We value our culture, our land, our family, our communities more than economy, careers and industry. As a historian, I am doomed to watch as history repeats itself, for good and for bad. Mostly bad, unfortunately.”

Greenland is full of its own rich culture, where many would like to see independence achieved. However, becoming fully autonomous is easier said than done. With their healthcare and education being heavily controlled by Denmark, Greenland would need to create their own system for both.

“What independence looks like, when it will happen, whether before or after I am no longer here, which countries or unions we will be in partnership or allyship with, I do not know,” Kirkegaard said.

Becoming a global sensation has thrown off this way of life for the Greenlandic people. With many travelling to see the place that has become a hot topic in the news, there has been more noise and occupation of the towns compared to normal.

“We are quiet people,” Kirkegaard said. “Be aware of your volume and what space you take when you visit. Also, be aware that the world’s interest in Greenland has disrupted our day-to-day life here in Nuuk, so that some people avoid the city center or certain grocery stores or cafes, especially when they know there are lots of reporters in town.”

The freedom that independence would bring to Greenland would be that of shedding European influence and allowing the Inuit culture to blossom and thrive once again.

“Being Greenlandic is understanding that you are nature,” Kirkegaard said. “You are not separate from nature. There is respect for nature, and a connectedness to our surroundings.”

---

This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into Greenland’s people, history, and culture. It was created by an advanced reporting class in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available on Edge of the Arctic: Greenland, the Land of the People.

This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club, and a private donor.