TOULOUSE, FRANCE.- L’Ensemble Conventuel des Jacobins presents Inuit. When Word Takes Shape, on view through August 28. Though their territory is as wide as a continent and spreads from Greenland to Alaska, only forty thousand Inuit live on the North-Canadian provinces. The artistic production of this small population is impressive, both by its quantity and by its diversity. Greatly due to the help of a passionate Canadian collector, Raymond Brousseau, the founder of the Inuit Museum of Quebec, and to the Rhône-Muséum Department, the Ensemble Conventuel des Jacobins was able to bring together an exceptional choice of sculptures that illustrates the commitment of the Inuit contemporary artists to restore a centuries-old civilization of oral tradition. Their art form really came to life in the 50s, at the very beginning of this people’s settling process.

From the very beginning the Inuit culture has been in perfect harmony with the natural elements and has dialogued with the spirits. The role of the artists is important, and their success reflects on the whole community, while allowing them to provide not only for their families’ needs, but for those of their neighbors as well, in compliance with their traditional values. By using whale bones, basalt, ivory, or caribou wood the sculptors reveal to us the subtleties of the animal, human or mystic world, the fundamental role of the shaman, mediator between the visible and the invisible worlds, who is the only one who knows how to maintain the balance between the forces of the universe and how to intercede with the spirits. They speak of the vital part played by the animals, endowed with a soul, and the very particular link that unites the hunter to his prey. They also speak of their people’s customs and founding values, such as sharing, the com plementary nature of the couple and the respect for the elders. Each one with his own style is the spokesperson of the history of a civilization.