Digitalisation of Crafts. Comparative approaches to Arctic Fur.

Abstract

Efforts to digitally engage with indigenous source communities and craftspeople are many and diverse. This paper has as its starting point a comparison between two such digital engagements, both celebrations of Arctic animal fur clothing, yet each at seemingly opposite ends of a continuum of possible digital interfaces. Skinddragter Online and Mittimatalik Arnait Miqsuqtuit Collective were both launched the same year, 2015, in Copenhagen and Mittimatalik, Nunavut, Canada respectively. By comparing each with the other, our ambition is to illuminate some of the curatorial choices involved in the making of such digital platforms, and the consequences they have in terms of wider visibility, audiences reached, knowledge included, and collaborative engagements invited. Postcolonial critique can come at the expense of general outreach, conversations between designated experts can be difficult to make equal. Technological sophistication can be challenged by the digital divide. Attention to issues of cultural appropriation is a constant. Yet, driving these initiatives is the need to maintain a digital diversity in online and offline spaces.