TAKING IT ALL IN while I wait for the artist to arrive, I ponder the connections between the Inuit and the Norse, who lived together in the eastern Canadian Arctic for hundreds of years. Very little is known about that time, even less from an Inuit perspective, and I’m curious about where Ruben gets his inspiration. When he walks through the door, I make my first attempt to find out.
It’s interesting how similar the myths and legends of these two peoples are, I remark, pointing to Sedna and Ran. Oh no, he tells me, it’s not a coincidence — the stories of all the people of the North are intertwined. It’s not a philosophical statement; Ruben’s words are peppered with names and dates and reference materials. And I realize I’m not here for a philosophical conversation about art and culture. I’m here for a history lesson. Ruben was born in a camp out on the tundra east of the
