Inuksuit

Book excerpt: The mysterious stone figures known as inuksuit can be found throughout the circumpolar world. Built from whatever stones are at hand, each one is unique. Inuksuit are among the oldest and most important objects placed by humans upon the vast Arctic landscape and have become a familiar symbol of the Inuit and their homeland.In author Norman Hallendy’s forty years of travels throughout the Arctic, he developed deep and lasting friendships with a number of Inuit elders. Through them, he learned that inuksuit are a nuanced, complex and vital form of communication. Hallendy’s dramatic color photos of many different kinds of inuksuit and objects of veneration capture not only a sense of wonder and power but reveal the unfamiliar Arctic landscape in all its magical beauty.