Art at Nordbo
Here at Nordbo, we are very happy with art - and we are happy to share the art with both our guests and the locals.
When you enter the reception on Vandsøvej, you are greeted by a large mural of a sea eagle, looking hovering over a Greenlandic winter landscape. The painting was made by the artist Miki Jacobsen in connection with Nordbo's major renovation and extension in 2021.
Miki Jacobsen talks about the painting:
- I have taken as my starting point the adventurously beautiful world we live in. The painting is an extension of reality and at the same time the world of mythology and fantasy. Even though I was born and raised here in Greenland, I am still deeply fascinated by the fantastic Greenlandic nature. I have also been interested in our mythological world and continue to write poetry here with the painting in the reception. The motif is a giant sea eagle, which also appears in the legend "the gift of the party", where the supernatural eagle gathers people with the sound of its heart, so that people gather from near and far areas to discover the gift of the party.
Miki Jacobsen, who was born in Paamiut in 1965 and grew up in Sisimiut, has in addition to the painting also been responsible for the decoration of the 18 newest rooms at Hotel Nordbo. Jacobsen is educated at the Art School in Nuuk and the School of Applied Arts.
You can also feel Nordbo's joy of art outdoors. The main works are two large granite sculptures by the sculptor Jens Erik Kjeldsen - known from the TV series Peitersen and Nordvestpassagen. These are Tunersuit, which stands in front of Hotel Nordbo on Vandsøvej, and Inequnaaluup Sinnatugaa, which stands by Nordbo in Centrum on Samuel Kleinschmidtsvej. Both sculptures were unveiled at Nordbo's 15th anniversary in 2013.
Tunersuit (actually longitudinal frames in kayak, but also the name of a legendary figure from the Dorset culture) shows a musk ox with a full-size rider.
- I worked with the big stone in my studio in Aasiaat - and it was my plan that it should end with a musk ox in full size. But during the carving, a rider was on his back, which I took note of. I have left the back of the stone untouched, so you can see where the figure originates from, says Jens Erik Kjeldsen.
The musk ox is one of Greenland's largest animals and symbolizes the raw and magnificent nature. Here, man only survives if one is one with nature - and therefore the motif is a natural choice for a Greenlandic sculpture. The stone for the Tunersuit originates from the quarry in Aaasiat. Tunersuit refers to the man's size and abilities as inland dwellers from the Dorset people, who are frequent guests in Greenlandic folk tales. The Dorset people lived in Greenland in the period 800 BC. and up to 1300.
Inequnaaluup Sinnatugaa (Inequnaalik's dream) shows the old Greenlandic legend of the same name. The sculpture shows a life-size walrus with a woman and a child. This motif also stems from the stone's natural structure, says Jens Erik Kjeldsen:
- I saw a walrus pushing to get out of the rock, but a woman and a child followed. A fearless child and a woman, if familiar with his life as "avannaamioq" - as a northerner.
In Jens Erik Kjeldsen's opinion, the legend of Inequnaalik is among the best stories in the Greenlandic legend culture. (read a retelling of the legend here).
Inside the oldest of the apartments on Vandsøvej and on Nordbo in Centrum, there are about 300 pictures by the Greenlandic artist Michael Simonsen, who has also decorated the common areas with paintings that are painted directly on the walls.
Inequnaaluk's dream
There was once a Greenlandic woman who had a completely unusual experience.
Inqunaaluk was born in 1888, and when she was eight, she played by the beach. Unfortunately, she slipped and fell into the water. There was no help nearby, yet she felt she was being lifted up on the shore by unknown forces.
As an 18-year-old, she again experienced something unusual. On a fishing trip with her husband, she was sleeping in the tent when a sound woke her up. Inequnaaluk saw her husband go down to the sea and throw himself into the water. Terrified, she went back to sleep - and when she woke up in the morning, the man was lying by her side, as if nothing had happened.
She woke him up and demanded an explanation. The man replied:
- Every time it's a full moon, I'm turned into a walrus at night.
- How did it start? Inequnaaluk was curious and wanted the whole explanation.
- When I was a child, I fell into the sea. The Mother of the Sea transformed me into a walrus so that I too could survive in the water.
When Inequnaaluk turned 28, the couple had twins - a girl and a boy. The father was happy and had the strength to tell the rest of his story:
- The time you fell into the water and I discovered it, I quickly transformed into a walrus and saved you, but I avoided you seeing me, because then you would just have been startled.
The children grew up, and one night in the full moonlight the parents discovered that the son was turning into a walrus. The son had inherited the property of the father, and the family happily lived on with that discovery.
And then it was Inequnaaluk woke up. It had all just been a dream.
