Trade Beads

2018
Acrylic on commander, birch frame
37” x 48”

My home in Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, has for centuries been a major trade hub between north and south. Labrador, being a point of first contact, was a major trading area between Europeans to the south and Indigenous groups to the north and the interior. Recent archeological excavations show that Rigolet did a major trade in glass beads and other trade materials. It seemed an active area in both winter and summer.

This piece was made while living in Nova Scotia where I saw, in a local gallery/historical site, a stone ulu: the traditional knife of Inuit women. Also, in the area and farther south, there are examples of chert hand mined in Ramah, Nunatsiavut. I’d like to believe that the ulu may have passed through our area. The chert passed through many hands as it headed south. It seems logical that it may have been exchanged in the route from north to south in the Rigolet area.

Our trade routes were strong, and we flourished. We were among the first contacted by Europeans, and we may have been the first group of people to utilize the shiny new beads... we incorporated them into our clothing, made fanciful designs with them, and made it a part of our culture.

It’s no mistake that the Hudson’s Bay Company and other trading firms wanted to make Rigolet their home... well established trade routes and a people willing to work...

We were among the first colonized, and hit hardest by colonial ways; adopting the white man's culture and way of thinking. Trying to hide our lineage back to the “dirty Eskimo” in some extreme cases.

We persevered, we are “taking back”, we are trying to rewrite history...

We’ve always made clothes that served a purpose first, that was beautiful to behold; I can only imagine the wonder and desire that we held for those Trade Beads!