Andu Schiodt Pikilak has dark dashes on her forehead descending into a deep “V” like geese flying in formation, an Inuit tattoo she sees as a rebirth for both her and Greenlandic culture.
“We’re going back to our roots,” said the reserved 61-year-old psychologist, who took the plunge seven years ago, before adding other tattoos to her forearm and fingers.
“The tattoos disappeared for many generations and have only recently returned,” Pikilak says in Nuuk, the capital of the island of Greenland.
The territory was a Danish colony from 1721 to 1953, before gradually becoming autonomous in the second half of the 20th century.
Inuit tattoos in Greenland – similar to those inked in other Inuit cultures, notably in Canada – are primarily worn by women.
