Piannat Inuvialuktun
playing cards for language revitalization
BRIEF:
contribute to local indigenous language revitalization efforts using a design product
creative director & designer: Jason Lau/ics
art director & Illustrator: Kyle Natkusiak Aleekuk
Project manager: tamara Voudrach/ics
collaborators: Beverly Siliuyaq Amos, Dwayne Atjgaliaq Drescher, Mataya Gillis, Ethel-Jean nautchiaq Gruben, Alice Kimiksana, Helen Kitekudlak, Albert Elias, Lillian Panigavluk Elias, Shirley Elias, Alice J. Thrasher
Funders: Canadian Roots Exchange, Northern Youth Abroad, beaufort delta divisional education council, Government of northwest territories
ART DIRECTION
GRAPHIC DESIGN
design consultation
community consultation
grant writing
Piannat Inuvialuktun (Playing Cards) is a community-based creative design project responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action to urgently preserve Indigenous languages as a fundamental “valued element of Canadian culture and society”.
In the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR), a remote Arctic region with about 5,000 people (3,000 of which are Inuvialuit, or Western Arctic Inuit) the language of Inuvialuktun is spoken in three dialects Uummarmiutun (in the communities of Inuuvik and Akłarvik), Sallirmiutun (in the communities of Inuuvik, Tuktuuyaqtuuq, Paulatuuq, and Ikaariaq/Ikaahuk/Sachs Harbour), and Kangiryuarmiutun (Ulukhaqtuuq).
Having been continuously advised by Inuvialuit Elders, local Language Keepers, and other educators that Inuvialuktun was at risk of “going to sleep”, the Inuvialuit Communications Society (ICS) urgently mobilized a team to produce an educational resource that was both educational, entertaining, artistic, and integrative into local culture. Through brainstorming a creative design medium that could engage the local public, the team realized that playing cards and card games are an integral part of spending time together with loved ones through long winters or living out on the land. We wanted to utilize such an engaging and versatile medium to also act as a powerful avenue for daily Indigenous language revitalization, preservation, and promotion.
In 2022, ICS finally completed a full series of Piannat Inuvialuktun including the culturally and locally relevant themes of: Northern animals, fish and fishing-related words, on-the-land tools and objects, Inuvialuktun greetings, and numbers. The playing cards include illustrations by an Inuvialuk artist, Kyle Natkusiak Aleekuk, as well as various Inuvialuktun words in all three regional dialects. As of 2022, the organization has been able to work with a manufacturer to produce thousands of decks—many of which have been free for Inuvialuit Beneficiaries and local students, and some of which have been sold to non-Inuvialuit and organizations across the globe who were interested in supporting and learning Inuvialuktun.
Piannat Inuvialuktun is a vital design project that continues to respond to the urgent need of preservation and revitalization of one of many Indigenous languages that has been profoundly and negatively impacted by colonization and residential schools in Canada. It is our hope that, moving forward, we can continue creating additions to the series to represent more Northern and culturally-relevant themes in continuing to proudly promote Inuvialuit culture, heritage, lifestyles, and artwork to the world.