Pia Arke and ‘Arctic Hysteria’: Visual Repatriation and the Problematics of a ‘Lost’ Artwork

• Published in: Kunst og Kultur
• Main Author: Stephanie von Spreter
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Norwegian Bokmål; Norwegian Nynorsk
• Published: Scandinavian University Press/Universitetsforlaget 2022
• Subjects: Pia Arke; Arctic hysteria; visual repatriation; photography; social biography; colonial archive; History of the arts; NX440-632; Arctic; kalaallit
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.18261/kk.105.2.3; https://doaj.org/article/65875e6468ef4e0fb98a562be0391969

This article examines Pia Arke’s artistic practice that engages with the phenomenon of ‘Arctic hysteria’, which apparently gripped large parts of the female indigenous population in the Arctic during the early contact era. By focusing on the ‘lost’ photomontage Arctic Hysteria IV (1997), I aim to show how Arke’s method of re-appropriating photographic material from colonial archives can be seen as an act of visual repatriation, of “working through” and reclaiming the repressed histories of indigenous Kalaallit women.