From Lost Home to New Belonging

The Swarm

Anawak’s return to Nunavut brings his buried history into the present and reshapes how he understands family, community, and the living world.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Child Leaves Cape Dorset A Child Leaves Cape Dorset from "The Swarm". Separation from Home A childhood rupture After his parents’ lives collapse, young Anawak leaves Cape Dorset with an adoptive family.

A Child Leaves Cape Dorset from "The Swarm". Separation from Home A childhood rupture After his parents’ lives collapse, young Anawak leaves Cape Dorset with an adoptive family.

Separation from Home A childhood rupture After his parents’ lives collapse, young Anawak leaves Cape Dorset with an adoptive family. The departure leaves him with anger toward his father and distance from Inuit life.

A Return for the Funeral A Return for the Funeral from "The Swarm". Reluctant Homecoming Family obligation Anawak returns to bury his father, expecting only a brief stay.

A Return for the Funeral from "The Swarm". Reluctant Homecoming Family obligation Anawak returns to bury his father, expecting only a brief stay.

Reluctant Homecoming Family obligation Anawak returns to bury his father, expecting only a brief stay. Ijitsineq Akesuk welcomes him, while Anawak resists the intimacy of the community.

The Burial The Burial from "The Swarm". A Public Farewell The community gathers Cape Dorset residents attend the burial even though Anawak assumed his father had few friends.

The Burial from "The Swarm". A Public Farewell The community gathers Cape Dorset residents attend the burial even though Anawak assumed his father had few friends.

A Public Farewell The community gathers Cape Dorset residents attend the burial even though Anawak assumed his father had few friends. The ritual forces him to face a death and a community he had kept at a distance.

Akesuk Names the Trauma Akesuk Names the Trauma from "The Swarm". The History Behind the Grief Displacement and its cost Akesuk explains how relocation, cultural disruption, poverty, and loss reshaped Inuit communities.

Akesuk Names the Trauma from "The Swarm". The History Behind the Grief Displacement and its cost Akesuk explains how relocation, cultural disruption, poverty, and loss reshaped Inuit communities.

The History Behind the Grief Displacement and its cost Akesuk explains how relocation, cultural disruption, poverty, and loss reshaped Inuit communities. Anawak begins to understand his father’s despair as part of a larger history.

A Place in the Present A Place in the Present from "The Swarm". Return Without Retreat A living inheritance Anawak accepts Akesuk’s invitation to travel and considers a future that includes, rather than denies, his origins.

A Place in the Present from "The Swarm". Return Without Retreat A living inheritance Anawak accepts Akesuk’s invitation to travel and considers a future that includes, rather than denies, his origins.

Return Without Retreat A living inheritance Anawak accepts Akesuk’s invitation to travel and considers a future that includes, rather than denies, his origins. His journey becomes a step toward belonging among the living.

nineteen years before the Arctic return

May, after the call from Cape Dorset

the evening of Anawak’s arrival

during the journey to the floe-edge

after the conversation at the floe-edge