a long time ago, there was a stone, one side of which had a human face with black eyes. growing by a river on the highlands of pillars, it made a certain sound recognized by the living world: trees, rivers, stones, birds, animals, spirits, beings, and entities. this stone, named by the tribe of the sun as sata taas, could invite a big wind, many-day rain or heavy snow. if anyone found this stone, it had to be kept secret – put in a pocket after whirling it by horse hair.

tɯ:nar tɯ:n:a:q ihijbit (all breathing beings become quiet), 2023, a video work by artist collective sata taas, draws parallels between melting of the permafrost, loss of the worlds, and indigenous understanding of body as extension of the land. while dominant structures continuously participates in methodological elimination of the knowledges and identities that are tied to the land, there is a need of space that acts as remembrance and reaffirmation of ancestral knowledge.

In this special version of tɯ:nar tɯ:n:a:q ihijbit for our Director’s Commentary series, sata taas members speak to, or with, the video, invoking the solidarity between Indigenous peoples of the Arctic and the land, the spirits, animals and plants they share territory with. The permafrost links them all, but it also bears the scars of colonisation and ecological violence. Still, there must be a way to sing kinship into being.