Nuka K. Godtfredsen (ill.) and Martin Appelt

”Hermelinen” is an extraordinarily beautifully illustrated comic book about a woman “Ukaliatsiaq” (Hermelinen), who evolves into a shaman (exorcist). The story opens dramatically by Hermelinen crawling through a crack out in the landscape and ending in the jaws of a polar bear. This means that she learns the names of every bone in the body. It is a necessary ritual to become an exorcist. Together with the exorcist Umimmak, Hermelinen sets forth west to Canada on a long and mysterious educational journey. We follow her progress, journey and meeting with the Inuit people. The story takes place in the 1100s when the Late Dorset culture meets the Inuit culture. The Inuit, who had just immigrated, took over all of Arctic Canada and Greenland in the course of only a few generations, while the Dorset people disappeared without a trace.

In this way Hermelinen is a fictional story based on historical knowledge. Pictures say more than words, but the words in the frames and speech balloons complement very well. 

The illustrations are drawn by the Greenlandic illustrator and artist Nuka K. Godtfredsen who has worked in close co-operation with a team of archaeologists from SILA - the Greenland Research Centre at the National Museum of Denmark. They have, amongst other things, been helpful with knowledge of the earliest communities and culture. In this way the book represents a convincing insight into the clothing, hunting tools, fishing methods and especially interpretations of the mindset of ancient people in Canada and Greenland.

Clearly the aim of the comic book has been to reach out to as many people as possible - especially children and young people - with fascinating and original stories with the latest knowledge from the archaeological exploration of Greenland. The story and idea is by Martin Appelt.