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- [00:00]
Sarah Olsvig
You're listening to the Monocle Daily. First broadcast in nuuk, Greenland on 22 January 2026 on Monocle Radio is the.
- [00:10]
Andrew Muller
Greenland crisis of 2026 actually over. Where does Greenland go from here? And how does one explain any of this to an international audience? I'm Andrew Muller, the Monocle D.
- [00:32]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
Foreign.
- [00:36]
Andrew Muller
Hello and welcome to the Monocle Daily. Coming to you from Catwalk, the Greenland Cultural center in Nuuk. I'm Andrew Muller. My guests, Sarah Olsvig, Kuno Fenker, Nick Robertson and Alexa Self, will reflect on an extraordinary week in the history of this extraordinary island. And we'll meet one of the Nuuk sculptors keeping alive the Inuit tradition of the Tupalak. Stay tuned. All that and more coming up right here on the Monocle D. And welcome everybody to a very special edition of the Monocle Daily, our third and regrettably final episode. Live from Catawak, the Greenland Cultural center in the heart of Nuuk, I'm Andrew Muller. I'm joined today by Sarah Olsvig, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council and former Greenlandic member of Denmark's Parliament and indeed of Greenland's Parliament, Kuno Fenker, who is a member of Greenland's Parliament with the Nalarak Party, and Nick Robertson, international Diplomatic Editor. Also with us is Monocle's foreign editor, Alexis Self, everybody. Hello.
- [01:41]
Kuno Fenker
Hi.
- [01:41]
Andrew Muller
I do want to start with our Greenlandic guests. I'll get you each, Sarah, first of all, to introduce yourself and your work. What goes on at the Inuit Circumpolar Council?
- [01:53]
Sarah Olsvig
Well, these times and years are certainly challenging for the Inuit Corporation. We Inuit live here in Galatina, Greenland, Canada, Alaska, the US and Chukatka, Russia. The term that we are chairing here from Gelatina, Greenland runs from 22 to 24. So as you can imagine, this term has indeed been defined by the geopolitical development in the world around us. What we have been working hard on and we've maintained is an Inuit unity insisting on maintaining our ties to fellow Inuit across state borders and also continue to insist on our right of self determination on the Arctic, to remain a peaceful region and also continue the work we do on the international arena as the Voice of Inuit. We were co founders of the Arctic Council and we are permanent participants to the Arctic Council. And we hold also accreditation to the UN as well as many other international institutions to which we bring a unified Inuit voice to speak for the rights and demand respect for the rights of Inuit and many other indigenous peoples around the world.
- [03:02]
Andrew Muller
Kune to bring you in? We will be. We'll have plenty of time in the show to talk about the international crisis which has focused on Greenland this last year or so. But to introduce your work when all of that stuff isn't happening, what do you work on as a Greenlandic mp? What kind of domestic issues do you focus on?
- [03:22]
Kuno Fenker
Well, first of all, I will say that our party is pro Inuit, pro Greenland and pro independence. Hence we are working very hardly to give the Inuit here in Greenland the rights they deserve as indigenous people. Even though we are Greenlanders who live here in Greenland, we will have to adhere to the international laws in regards to the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous People's Rights, ILO 169 and so forth, to give the group of Inuit and also individuals of green Inuit the proper rights to live their culture, to live their way of living, the way of hunting, and also the areas that they usually use in regards to hunting and also where they have summer camps, winter camps and so forth, they have to be protected. And you can't protect the Inuit people if you don't know exactly who they are, because we are, hence our colonization and annexation. For 300 years we have been mixed quite a lot and we get a lot of expats from especially Denmark and also right now from Philippines and Thailand and so forth. So we have to be able to protect the people that needs the protection in regards to the international human rights. And I will say that we still have some work to do, but also I think we are on the path with the good work from icc, for example, that we will try to protect the people. That's something that we are working on here in Greenland, locally, especially from our party. We want to know who we are that we are protecting.
- [05:13]
Andrew Muller
And Nick, to bring you in this, in terms of diplomatic crises, very much not your first rodeo, how does this compare to any previous such you may have covered?
- [05:25]
Nick Robertson
It's very strange. It feels as if I've been here for a couple of weeks, so I've just stepped into something that's an entirely different environment with so many things to learn about the Inuit culture and what people value here and what was at stake. And it seemed almost at this point now that we've been through a fever dream that you've had this whole, you know, escalation of rhetoric and anger. Yet it's all happened to the people here who've put up a voice, a united voice. But have they been heard in the right places? So in terms of sort of comparing it to another diplomatic situation, it is Almost as if you've come into somewhere where the world is touching a place that it rarely touches, and the voices of the people there are rarely heard. And there's a huge gap in the understanding of the rest of the world. So to cover it, it's been to try to bridge that gap. But no, in terms of diplomatic events, no, because there's been an apparent, it would seem, manufactured escalation and crisis to a point where we seem to be back where we started. Other events, you know, I think of the last minutes going into the first Gulf War or chasing around after weapons of mass destruction, inspectors in Baghdad before the second Gulf War, all of these things, there was a lot more clarity. And there were things. There were real things in there.
- [07:02]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
Wow.
- [07:02]
Andrew Muller
We're at a point where we're thinking back that there was more clarity in Iraq in 2003. Sarah, just before we bring Lex Self in with the latest from the outside world, I want to put something of what Nick said to you there. Obviously, you've had the experience, as have everybody here, of seeing Greenland presented to a global audience, quite often by outsiders such as Nick and myself. How good a job do you think people have done? How recognisable has Greenland been to you in the interpretations of people from outside?
- [07:38]
Sarah Olsvig
Well, first of all, I think that from the very beginning of a US expression of a desire to purchase Greenland in 2019, we have seen a narrative that has been based on a premise and a world order that we had thought that we had long gone past. So a world order that existed 100 years ago where colonization and imperialism were sort of ways to do things for states, and they were actually trading, you know, land and peoples. That world order was abandoned in the world that we live in after the Second World War with the establishment of international institutions and international law. So it's been quite surreal to see our own nation being, you know, the premise being that we could be bought and sold. And that for us at the Inuit Circumpolar Council, has been very clear and also in this round a year ago, very clear that it really represents a worldview that we reject. So our immediate response a year ago, and we continue to say that, is that there's simply no such thing as a better colonizer. This is what we are talking about. We are talking about a world order that we thought we had left behind. The latest day's events and the meetings in Davos also portray that the world order is changing this time around. I think the institutions and legislation, international instruments we have built and agreed upon are supported by a large, large number of states, especially those in the democratic world. And we've seen that support to gelagliton at Greenland being expressed over the past weeks. And I think we are here in a situation where we have to recalibrate how we then deal with the changed world order. So I think at that time, this is the time where we as indigenous peoples built on the decades and decades of standing shoulder to shoulder, demanding our rights to be recognized, call on fellow indigenous peoples, other peoples that were colonized, and say this time around we have to remind the world of what we've built and not let that being torn down as we see yet another change in how the world and great power rivalry functions.
- [10:07]
Andrew Muller
At that point, I'll bring in Lex Self, our foreign editor. Lex, some headlines from the world outside. Since President Trump spoke in Davos yesterday, how have events moved on?
- [10:18]
Alexa Self
Hi, Andrew. We'll talk about the press conference with the Greenlandic prime minister, Jens Frederik Nielsen, which finished about two hours ago. A little later in the outside world down there in the din, the big news is that through Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary general, the Greenlandic and Danish governments have delivered a message to the US government, that is Donald Trump, that they are willing to renegotiate the 1951 US Denmark Agreement that governs the US military's presence in Greenland. It was understood that this message delivered by Rutte to Trump before his speech at Davos yesterday is what led to the US President's climb down of his threats to unilaterally pursue the acquisition of Greenland, as well as his threat to impose extra trade tariffs on eight European nations for not supporting his territorial aims.
- [11:16]
Andrew Muller
Lex, we will have more from you shortly about that press conference that the Greenlandic prime minister held earlier. But I'll come back to our Greenlandic panelists. Kuno Greenland has politics, of course, like any country has politics. You have different parties and you have disagreements and you have disputes. Over the last year within Greenlandic politics, has there been much argument as to how best to handle this?
- [11:43]
Kuno Fenker
Yes, indeed. But I will also first comment that I very much agree with what Sarah just said. And we have to adapt. We have been adapting in this country with climate change, with colonization, with annexation and so forth. And now we have something that a new world order that is coming and for praise for that here in Greenland, in my opinion and our party's opinion, is that Greenland, after 300 years of de facto colonization, needs to have the sovereignty back of Greenland, not necessarily fully independent, but who is, you know, Denmark is not fully independent. They have given out sovereignty to the European Union and so forth. Greenland needs to take sovereignty so that we are a part of the international community, part of the un, Part of NATO, part of international organization that administers our fisheries within our waters and so forth.
- [12:44]
Andrew Muller
But just to explain this a bit more to our listeners, because all the Greenlandic political parties, as I understand it, are broadly, or so they claim, pro independence, but are there differences among them about the speed with which that should be pursued?
- [12:59]
Kuno Fenker
Absolutely. I feel that also when you listen to the prime minister of Greenland right now bowing under Denmark, saying directly to the people we choose the kingdom of Denmark, that means they still want to be under the one unity state, kingdom of Denmark, and not Greenland having full sovereignty of its country. They will not give out. You know, Denmark has the prerogative in regards to defense, security and citizenship and so forth. But that's not democratic, that's not equal. So we need to make a new political organization with Denmark. You know, we have a self will act where we need to negotiate with Denmark on how the future should be in a sovereign Greenland. So we get the sovereignty, but we can still work with Denmark in a free association or any political organization form which is equal and democratic.
- [13:56]
Andrew Muller
Nick, I'll bring you in at this point because the character that has thrown all this into the globe's attention is of course, President Donald Trump. And you've already partially answered this question, I guess, but is what we've seen over the last year and especially the last week, can we think of it as. It's the standard Trump play, isn't it? You create a crisis, you resolve the crisis, and then you expect a big round of applause and possibly a Nobel Peace Prize for having resolved the crisis.
- [14:28]
Nick Robertson
I think something of it as well is it appears that President Trump really feels the need, or actually does need to learn everything for himself. It's not enough to have people explain and tell him the sovereignty, territorial integrity at stake here or whatever the deep details of any issue are. He needs to sort of learn it for himself. He needs to step up to that line with the international financial markets, as he did with his exploratory trade tariffs with China, and then back away at that moment when he apparently has learned some of the details that are immovable details in front of him. He has absolutely tested Europe and its unity and its resolve and will no doubt further test it. But I think it is classic Trump that he presents something as being done and complete when really it's just the headline starter point that other leaders, diplomats would say, okay, we've agreed to begin to talk and we'll see where we get to the end of it. He presents it as, here's the success. The success for Greenland will come when those talks proceed. And I think people understand where the US President actually stands and where he's willing to rest.
- [15:45]
Andrew Muller
I mean, for now, of course, we do have that other standard Trump stuff of him having concepts of a plan and probably something to tell us in two weeks or 20 days, which are his favorite time periods. Sarah But I was wondering if you could talk a bit about just what this has been like for Greenlanders at a personal level, because we've spoken to a lot of people this week, some of whom have admitted that, yeah, they were very concerned, even frightened. There was a report in Somitziak, the local newspaper, this week, that people had started to sort of stockpile and hoard and be prepared for things. And that struck me as remarkable. Because of the climate and the environment you live with, Greenlanders are surely pretty prepared for pretty much anything at all times anyway. So if Greenlanders, of all people are thinking they have to lay in extra provisions, people are quite worried, aren't they?
- [16:38]
Sarah Olsvig
Well, the government of Greenland Neleg did hold a press conference yesterday asking people to prepare, recognizing that especially those citizens who live in the more rural areas are already prepared because that's the living conditions. What I do want to say is that we, as an indigenous people, as a people of the Arctic, we predate the concept of states. We've lived here for thousands of years. We've migrated across what others is calling just a piece of ice that's in our infrastructure. We've migrated following the animals, being able to sustain ourselves from very, very skillfully made technologies that has made it possible for us to live and not just survive, but thrive in the Arctic for those many, many years. And therefore, I think we have a resilience and also a worldview that it might be difficult to recognize for many of our dear visitors these days. And I think that when we saw that press conference yesterday, that was obviously also the point of departure from Nalek Suissut. And you've also seen that the response and preparedness or the preparedness of citizens in the Nordic States came much earlier than it came here because of the general threat that exists in this region of the world and also now in the the Arctic. So I think that it's important to get to understand that perspective, that what we come from and what we have in us as a people is sometimes difficult to recognize. And especially also difficult to recognize in a legal sense and also a human rights sense when you talk about us. So it's been interesting to be a citizen of Galahlit Lunat and see all of these narratives being put forward by certain ways of viewing the world and very rarely in international media. The premise has been our premise. It's been the premise of telling a story as if we could be sold as if it's just an piece of ice. So in some way, I think that these over a year now that this has been going on for us here on the street, has also created an opportunity to tell the wider world about who we are and what we come from, and hopefully create a stronger understanding and recognition of not just Inuit, but indigenous peoples all over the world, because this is exactly what it's about. Again, back to the notion and the saying we've been repeating that there's no such thing as a better colonizer. So that's been something that really personally has struck me, other than, of course, also our children who've also commented and seen everything and had their own experiences on the streets over the past year.
- [19:33]
Andrew Muller
Just a quick extra question on that. How do you go about explaining what's been going on to Greenlandic children?
- [19:41]
Sarah Olsvig
Well, my son is 8, he was 7 a year ago, and we couldn't prevent that. He would meet certain propagandistic social media persons and personalities on the street, so he would come home telling stories of what he had been asked and told by these. So obviously we had to explain also a little bit deeper in our family what that is all about. And I think that it's really grown a sense of who we are, are and also a sense of what our own position is. On Saturday at the big march, he, by his own initiative wanted to be interviewed by Portuguese tv and his reply was, greenland is not for sale. They asked him, do you love Greenland? He said, so, so, so, so much. And when they asked, what do you love about Greenland? He said, my friends. So I think it is really, you know, taking a lot of space and on the minds of our children in ways that we might not be able to imagine. But it really has also created a sense of unity that we can clearly hear from our children.
- [20:51]
Andrew Muller
Well, let's bring back in Lex Monocle's foreign editor. You were at the Prime Minister's press conference. As you mentioned earlier, it took place a couple of hours ago and about 20 metres from where we're standing now.
- [21:02]
Alexa Self
Yeah, the hub, the hub of Nuuk, the cultural centre, a much bigger building than the parliament building, which is where yesterday's press conference was. And I think the capacity of that room had reached and exceeded its limits. And so I, along with the dozens of other foreign journalists in Nuuk, received an email about 11am today from the poor beleaguered press secretary of Prime Minister Nielsen saying that it moved across the road into this building, the Nuuk Cultural Center. And at about 1:45 this afternoon, this place was teeming with press from all over the world. And at two, the Prime Minister strolled in. Now, he's a pretty casual guy, he's a young guy, he's 34 years old and he's been the Prime Minister for around 10 months. And you know, while it is of course the highest office in Greenland, it's not a position that usually comes with a lot of international scrutiny. And suffice to say, the past few weeks have been a bit of a crash course in international diplomacy and especially I think international media relations for the young Prime Minister. He was without his trademark cobalt blue anorak, which I know you're a fan of particularly Andrew, and was wearing a slim black suit and dark blue shirt. And though at first I think he did appear a little nervous or perhaps overwhelmed by how many people were in the room or there to listen to him, he came with a pretty strong message. So let's have a listen to what he said.
- [22:35]
Jens Frederik Nielsen
Greenland continues to be the center of serious situation. A situation that we have never wished to be in. We feel the massive pressure on our country and also on our partners and friends, the eu. The support from the Nordic countries, Denmark, EU friends and allies is absolutely crucial in the current situation. We are strongly aware that this support requires a lot from our friends and allies. We deeply appreciate it. We also recognize that standing up for international law and fundamental principles of democracy in this situation is not only crucial for Greenland, but also upholding the integrity of the Western alliance. Our goal and wish is to continue a peaceful dialogue based on cooperation with respect for our constitutional position, international law, the right to our country and the right to self determination. US political level representatives have met with our foreign ministers. They have agreed to initiate discussions in a high level working group that will work towards finding solutions to the U.S. interest in Greenland without compromising the integrity of of the territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, our integrity and our right to self determination. Greenland continues to take the security situation in the Arctic seriously. We have always been and remain dedicated to the NATO alliance as we seek to strengthen the security in the Arctic through important initiatives including a more permanent NATO mission in Greenland and increased military presence and exercise activities. I believe that everyone who has set foot here in Greenland already know where we stand in this situation. But I will say it again, just to be clear. Greenland chooses the Greenland we know today as part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
- [25:14]
Andrew Muller
That was Greenland's Prime Minister, Jens Frederick Nielsen, speaking a short while ago. You're listening to the Daily on Monocle Radio live from Nuuk. Still with me are Sarah Alsvig, Kuno Fanker and Nick Robertson. Kuno, I'll come to you whatever arrangements are made involving NATO and in particular the United States. After this last year, is it not going to be a bit difficult for Greenlanders to entirely trust the U.S. again?
- [25:41]
Kuno Fenker
I think, you know, we've been colonized for 300 years. It's difficult to trust anyone anymore. So I think we trust Greenlanders above all of anyone else. We will support the interest of Greenland. Of course, the United States, Denmark and other countries will work upon their interest in regards to Denmark, keeping Greenland as a de facto colony, de facto a next area, as their territory. The United States have their concerns and interest in regards to the island right now because of the geopolitical situations, I will say they have, let's say the 1951 agreement and World War II. They treated Greenland very good after that and also adhered to the laws that we have. So I think we have to keep trust in the international order to keep our sane self here in Greenland.
- [26:45]
Nick Robertson
Also.
- [26:46]
Andrew Muller
There's a wider question attached to that, Nick, which I guess after the last year in particular, can anybody trust the United States again? I'm thinking particularly about what the countries which until about a year ago would have fondly thought themselves as part of this absolutely unbreakable, immutable transatlantic alliance.
- [27:05]
Nick Robertson
An alliance that they want to be part of because their economies depend on it and their security depends on it. And it's is deeply interwoven and it's something as a, you know, a post war person in Europe, you grow up with that fabric that this is necessary. I think another generation is going to grow up understanding that that fabric is changing. A rupture. That was what the Canadian Prime Minister described the moment as. It does feel different. And to me it feels for Greenland that it is drawn into this geopolitical situation. And although the temperature might fall down now, politically, diplomatically, you're not out of it. This is. It's going to be this way. You're now in, dare I say, the mess with the rest of us. But the trust issue, it's eroded it cuts politically. You know, I think in my home country, the uk, the Prime Minister Keir Starmer is, gets applauded when he's able to walk away from the United States in meeting with President Trump because he's got some sort of a trade deal. But then the President criticizes him. And for every leader in Europe, it must be the same. If you draw the ire of the US President, you lose political support, your footing at home is weakened. So as a politician, how could you trust that person the same way again? How could your electorate trust them again? Everyone, of course will hope there will be new leaders that they can trust better. But I don't think there's a going back. There's a learning to live with, accommodate and change. If the change is gradual, then good for all of us. If the change isn't gradual, then really heaven help us.
- [28:44]
Andrew Muller
Sarah, the phrase Nick used there in the mess with the rest of us, are Greenlanders going to miss, do you think the idea that you were just this remote, very self contained, very self sufficient community that mostly the world just left alone, do you have any hope Greenland might be able to go back to that?
- [29:05]
Sarah Olsvig
Greenland has been a globalized society for many, many, many years. We've traded and built our own partnership agreements since home rule was established. The home movement, you could argue, even also built in the 70s on a need to determine on our own which alliances and which institutions internationally to be a member of. And so the first big referendum organized after home rule was established was the referendum on Greenland's membership of the EU as it later became. And Greenland chose to leave the EU but then engaged in, in partnership negotiations, building their own and building our own relationships internationally through foreign policy. And what has been determined or what has been, you know, quite recurring in Greenland's political history is that often. And I think that's because we inherently exercise our right of self determination. And I do think that we should recognize that as well and not always to see us as someone who passively just were spectators to colonization because we have inherently exercised our right of self determination. We have gone out there, done diplomacy in our own way, indigenous diplomacy you could say, building partnerships, building markets for exporting fish and shrimp, building an economy that is often by others described in a very sort of deficit based approach, but seen from the inside, I think those are also the things we remember and know. So I think that we are more globalized than so many other peoples of this world. And that's also something we need to remember in terms of looking at who's our counterpart in this. I think there's a greater understanding of how the world works for the average Galadal Greenlander Inuk on the street of Nuuk than so many other places, because it's been a precondition to be able to trade, to be able to communicate, to be able to engage in diplomacy to protect our rights as a small people. So I think that that question needed that reply. But. But I understand what. What you're saying.
- [31:22]
Andrew Muller
We're coming towards the end of our panel discussion. I do want to give the last word to our two Greenlandic guests, and I'd like to ask you each. Cuno, first of all, for something of a personal reflection, because obviously Greenlanders have been doing this last year, and especially this week, a lot of explaining their country and the way it works and the way it thinks to the outside world. People like me and Nick have been doing our best to try and explain it to our own audiences. But when you think of Greenland, what do you think of? Is there a particular place or a work of art or a piece of musical or just something that anchors you to this place?
- [32:01]
Kuno Fenker
I will first of all say adaptation, Adaptation, adaptation. And that's how the Inuit people has always adapted to this area. I will also say that we Greenlanders will never stigmatize Americans, Russians, Europeans, Chinese, whoever. We will be friendly to anyone and act in a diplomatic, respectful way. But I have a funny story, because in 2008, I went to the Grand Canyon and I was difficult to impress because the place I come from, Ilulisset, which means icebergs, we have icebergs larger than skyscrapers sometimes, you know, and they are so extreme, and the nature is so extreme here that we are difficult to. To impress sometimes. Not to be rude, but I will just tell you that story that the place I come from is absolutely beautiful.
- [32:59]
Andrew Muller
And Sarah, what about you? When you think of this place, what do you think of?
- [33:04]
Sarah Olsvig
I think of the spirit in between us, that strength that comes with being Inuk and being a Greenlander, which I think is also what's keeping us, you know, standing with our heads held high in this situation. We are at the eye of global attention. We know that this is not just about us and Denmark. This is a broader development in the world, a change to the world order. And that also means that now is the time to build on those diplomatic ties we've been working on and engaging in for so many years and call on those who share the values of human rights, of territorial integrity, of diplomacy and dialogue, and not war to stand with us in all of this and know that we know that it's not just about us. I think Prime Minister Carney said it very clearly. If you're not at the table, you're on the menu. And I think that is really something that we, as a small nation on a very big piece of land and very much water around us, really have to calibrate our actions towards and know exactly how to navigate that. But I'm hopeful again, because we have been many times demonstrated that we can do more than people think. And hopefully this situation also will give people a sense that it's important to do direct negotiations with us or respect the ways of doing negotiations that we choose as a global and as a national polity that Greenland is. And I think that's going to be the determining factor in the days to come to see if the strategy that seems to be behind letting our friends work for us in Davos actually is going to result in a solution that the parliament and people will want to pursue.
- [35:01]
Andrew Muller
Sarah Olsvig, Kunou Fenker, Nick Robertson and Alexa Self, thank you all for joining us here in Nuuk. And finally, on today's show, a tupalak is an Inuit totem, usually a depiction of a small monster carved from whale tooth, walrus tusk, musk, ox bone or reindeer antler. They come in sizes from key ring upwards. A bigger tupolak might be an entire walrus skull. They were or are believed to ward off enemies and hazards. Earlier we visited the nuke workshop of one of the local sculptors who makes tupolaks, Kim Kleist Eriksson. Kim trades under the name eriagisiak, which means something you don't want to lose. And I began by asking Kim to describe his technique.
- [35:43]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
First thing, I carve springwell teeth and walrus tusks and also walrus craniums. And I'm going to be exhibiting this summer at the National Gallery at Canada in Toronto, I think.
- [36:00]
Andrew Muller
How do you go about acquiring the material, though? Where do the teeth and the tusks come from?
- [36:04]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
Mainly the hunters, but we don't hunt for sperm whale. It's one of the hardest materials to actually get a hold on due to we don't hunt it. The only way that you will be able to get sperm whale tooth is if you find a stranded or dead whale at the beach and you're brave enough to go over there and take the teeth out. And I have spent my time besides a dead whale and it's not pleasant. And that's why I'm Saying if you're brave enough. Because once you touch it, even though you wash your hands, it'll stay on for a week.
- [36:37]
Andrew Muller
For the benefit of our many listeners who I suspect have never attempted to extract a tooth from a dead sperm whale. How do you actually go about doing that?
- [36:46]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
Well, you physically need tools, for example saw and hatchet mainly just to break out the jawbone and pick the teeth out. And it's a hard process. I've never actually done it because it's so rare to be able to find a sperm whale that's been dead for days. And you have to be really lucky if it's placed on a really good beach because we have so rugged country here in Greenland and. But as of lately I've found some friends throughout the Internet that has collected teeth and who still actively collects teeth. For example, a guy in Iceland, he's a really good friend of mine. And recently there Iceland was a big whaler country and they had factories where they take out the blubber and oil and all that stuff and the teeth was collected to. For the workers there. And for generations it has been a family heirlooms of the teeth in a box or something. But the new generation doesn't really have interest for teeth apparently and lots of them are for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Iceland and my friend collects them and that's where I get it. But yeah, really old teeth. For example, this tooth is probably 120 years old.
- [38:18]
Andrew Muller
That brings us to what you actually do with the teeth. And that one you're, you're grasping there. Is that a work in progress?
- [38:25]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
Yeah, I started on it yesterday because I recently finished a piece a few days ago, last week I think. Yeah.
- [38:34]
Andrew Muller
And the pieces you make are these, I guess modern demonstrations of an old Greenlandic tradition. Is this something people here have always done?
- [38:44]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
Well, technically yes, but my art isn't really traditional. But it's more art due to traditional art is making Dupilix where you make a figure, scary looking figure that supposed to harm your enemies or do something horrible for other people. But I'm not a horrible person so I don't really have intention and I'm not really into creating just duplex. I, I want to create my vision. I want to do what I've always wanted to do. It's like to be creative and do something people usually don't think about in their mind and they're like wow, that's a great point of view. Like making polar bear claws, polar bear skulls and walrus craniums and untraditional work.
- [39:39]
Andrew Muller
So how would you say your works are different from the traditional idea of the tupelak?
- [39:45]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
The thing is, whenever I have a material in front of me, I want to work on every. Each side of the material. But in the traditional art form is that you mainly carve from the front side and the backside doesn't really get that much attention. But what I do is like, for example, it's hard to describe, but if you look at the picture over there, there's a man. There are two men. So there's a man on each side of the tooth.
- [40:19]
Andrew Muller
And I have read, however, that you have recently carved one which may feature the face of a certain U.S. president.
- [40:26]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
Yeah, that tooth got a lot of attention on my Facebook page page, which is called. I just wanted to do one just out of curiosity, because I made one before with the dubilek holding the head of the priest that came here to colonize Greenland. And it's right here. So it's the dubilek and the priest and his. I don't know what they call the priest always has his workers. Yeah, so that's the dubu, like in the faces and the traditional priests. I don't know what you call it.
- [41:11]
Nick Robertson
Like a.
- [41:11]
Andrew Muller
Like a color.
- [41:12]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
Yeah, like a big color.
- [41:14]
Andrew Muller
It would be remiss of us not to mention that you're also a musician. You and your wife do make records together.
- [41:21]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
Technically we haven't done a record together. She recorded her own album and that's where I came in as a musician. But now on the new recording, we are working together.
- [41:31]
Andrew Muller
Is there a particular song by your wife that you would like us to play this item out on?
- [41:36]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
Oh, yes, I would like to play the Light. It's one of my favorite songs. And it's. She has a beautiful voice and she's everything to me.
- [42:20]
Andrew Muller
That was Kim Kleist Erickson speaking to me earlier at his workshop in Nuuk and playing us out there was Kamenek by Kim Kleist, Erickson's wife, Katzi Kleist. That is all for this special edition of the Monocle Daily from Catwack, the Greenland Cultural center in Nuuk. A big thanks to our panelists today, Sarah Osvig Kuno Fenker, Nick Robertson and Alexa Self. Today's show was produced by Lily Austin and researched by Anneliese Maynard. Our studio manager in London was Steph Chungu. I'm Andrew Muller here in Nuuk. The Monocle Daily is back at the same time tomorrow from Midori House in London.
- [42:52]
Kim Kleist Eriksson
Thanks for listening.
- [43:11]
Sarah Olsvig
Sat.