Our Boots: An Inuit Women's Art

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

Jill Oakes and Rick Riewe, both of whom have a long acquaintance with
the Inuit and the North, have collaborated to produce a work that is at
once an art book, a technical manual, and an ethnographic study.

Kamiks (traditional footwear) are necessary for survival in the Arctic.
As one Inuit woman observes, “Kamiks are part of our identity. They
are part of our culture and environment. Kamiks are a form of Inuit art
made by women.” A wealth of illustration depicting the boots, their
makers, and their makers’ communities supports the claim that kamiks
are art. Patterns are given, and techniques discussed in detail. Inuit
skin boots display the women’s skill and their pride in their families
and communities; they also communicate strong links to the past, along
with the wearer’s gender, activities, and political interests.

Our Boots is a labor of love based on extensive research and good
relations with the Inuit people.