DAAMANI — Back Then in East Greenland
ArKaluk Bianco's unique photographs from 1950s and 60s Ammassalik in dialogue with new work by Bolatta Silis-Høegh
June 20 2026—January 24 2027
In the exhibition Daamani – Back Then in East Greenland, photographs of everyday life in East Greenland in the 1950s and 1960s by East Greenlandic photographer Arkaluk Bianco (1921–1987) enter into dialogue with artist Bolatta Silis-Høegh’s installation Looking Through the Window (In or Out).
Arkaluk Bianco’s eighty photographs from Tasiilaq and the surrounding settlements – the area known as the ‘Ammassalik district’ – offer a rare glimpse into a world and a time from which hardly any other images survive. With great sensitivity and immediacy, he depicts family life, communities and everyday moments during a period marked by rapid modernisation and far-reaching social change. The photographs differ from the colonial documentary material of the same period because Arkaluk was a man of Tasiilaq. He was part of everyday life there and personally connected to the lives he portrayed.
For the exhibition, Bolatta Silis-Høegh has created the installation Looking Through the Window (In or Out). Here, recycled textiles spread across the floor, serving as a canvas for colour cine-film footage by Arkaluk. The dialogue between the works by Arkaluk and Silis-Høegh connects generations across time and place, opening up new spaces for memory and belonging.
Arkaluk Bianco (1921–1987) was an Inuk/Greenlander – a shop manager and postmaster from Tasiilaq, as well as a personality and a pioneering figure in photography.
Bolatta Silis-Høegh (b. 1981) is a leading Inuk/Kalaaleq-Latvian artist whose practice is deeply rooted in political, historical and social questions relating to Greenland.
The exhibition is curated by Nauja Bianco and Helene Brochmann in collaboration with Silke Calmer Dinesen, Nordatlantens Brygge.
The exhibition is generously supported by Augustinus Fonden, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond, Danish Arts Foundation, Aase og Jørgen Münters Fond, Dansk Tennis Fond, Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Den Grønlandske Fond, Knud Højgaards Fond, Kraemers Grønlandsfond and Politiken-Fonden.