This is a beautiful and moving site that I came across yesterday in my web research on the art of Canada’s Northern people: The Canadian Museum of Civilization exhibition Places of Power, Objects of Veneration in the Canadian Arctic.

This online version is a selection of the 36 photographs taken by Norman Hallendy, showing extraordinary places and objects in the Canadian Arctic revealed to him by Inuit elders. The images celebrate ‘unganaqtuq nuna’, the Inuit expression meaning ‘a deep and total attachment to the land.’ These incredible sites were revered for countless generations by the Inuit — the Arctic’s first known inhabitants.

From the introduction:

These places are numerous and varied, and include ‘inuksuit’, the stone structures of varied shape and size erected by Inuit for many purposes. The term ‘inuksuk’ (the singular of inuksuit) means ‘to act in the capacity of a human.’ It is an extension of ‘inuk’, human being. In addition to their earthly functions, certain inuksuk-like figures had spiritual connotations, and were objects of veneration, often marking the threshold of the spiritual landscape of the ‘Inummariit’, which means ‘the people who knew how to survive on the land living in a traditional way.’

Enjoy and admire the photographs.

Addendum: Some time later I found this beautiful book:
Inuksuit: Silent Messengers of the Arctic by Norman Hallendy.