How to say 'I love you' in Greenlandic: An Arctic Alphabet
Channel: Documentally
Date: 2012-02-23

http://www.nancycampbell.co.uk/
The Greenlandic language -- famous for its many words for snow -- expresses the Arctic ecosystem better than the writings of any climate scientist. It is indispensible for our understanding of the environment, yet UNESCO declares several of its dialects to be in danger of extinction.

How to say 'I love you' in Greenlandic is an introduction to this evocative Arctic language, and presents a romantic narrative as well as a lesson in linguistics. All twelve letters of the Greenlandic alphabet are represented with words ranging from eqisimarput ('we walk arm in arm as lovers') to kinguneqartarpoq ('he drinks a second brew from old coffee grounds or tea leaves'). These words and their English definitions are accompanied by a series of pochoir prints depicting icebergs. As in contemporary Arctic life, the denouement is caused by the disappearance of the ice.

How to say 'I love you' in Greenlandic: An Arctic Alphabet has been hand-printed by Nancy Campbell in an edition limited to 50 copies, each signed and numbered by the author. The book is housed in a designer binding made by Natasha Herman at the Red Bone Bindery, Ottawa. Priced at £450, a donation of £50 from the sale of each copy will go to the World Oral Literature Project, an urgent global initiative to document endangered oral literatures before they disappear.

How to say 'I love you' in Greenlandic: An Arctic Alphabet was launched at the Doverodde Book Arts Festival, Denmark, and at the Poetry Society, London, in 2011. Nancy will perform the work at the Pleasure Garden Ball at the Museum of London on 14 February 2012. Please see Events & Exhibitions for details of future readings.

You can listen to Nancy talk about her work in an interview with Susan Mills for the Bookbinding Now podcast series.

For further information please contact nancy@nancycampbell.co.uk