ASSOCIATION OF THE UNKNOWN SHORE 

The Association of Unknown Shore (AUS) is a growing, interdisciplinary, social practice art project and platform for the research, production and commissioning of art and cultural works. We are currently a Bristol-based collective exploring the hidden nature of the persistent material traces of the enforced cultural exchange between what we now know as the UK and Canada. 

Formed in 2018, AUS works with the physical and social impacts of the 16th-century Martin Frobisher journeys from Britain to Nunavut. In 1577, Frobisher abducted three Inuit from opposite shores near Iqaluit. The English gave them the names Kalicho, Arnaq and Nutaaq and they were brought to Bristol where they spent 6 weeks. The man and woman died in November 1577 and were buried at Saint Stephen’s Church. Between 1576 and 1578, Frobisher brought thousands of tons of iron ore to England in the belief that it was gold and a narwhal tusk, which was gifted to Queen Elizabeth I for its magical properties. He also brought with him the seeds for the idea of the ‘British Empire’. In Nunavut, on Qallunaat (Kodlunarn) Island, Frobisher left soured relations, conflict, English oak, an English stone house, bread, metal decorative objects and British names.

Today, Bristol’s links to Nunavut are little recognised. As residents of this city, we feel that there is an urgency to presencing on this shore the enormity of these events – to reclaim these histories and reactivate the unaccounted debts owed. Where Bristol is beginning to acknowledge its central role in the development of, and reliance on, slave-based economies, particularly through the Transatlantic slave trade – on ‘how the city continues to breathe coloniality’ – this earlier historical context and its contemporary legacies remain unspoken.

We are individuals who are partnered through the Association of the Unknown Shore. Some of us work within University of Bristol, Bristol Museum, Arnolfini, Saint Stephen’s Church, Rainmaker Gallery. Others are independent artists working in both the UK and Canada. Currently, we are Kayle Brandon, Sue Giles, Lisa Graves, Mark Jackson, Evan Jones, Dave Mitchell, Angela Piccini, Jeanette Plumb, Jo Prince, Ben Thomas. We  worked with artist Mark Igloliorte to develop the October 2018 event and commissioned his Study for a Traditional Sealskin Neck Pillow. We are working with a number of organisations in Nunavut to guide the next phase of the project.

We acknowledge that many of us work within institutions whose structures continue to be shaped by and ‘benefit’ from coloniality. We are currently striving to redress these legacies and continuing practices of power and exploitation. We acknowledge Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has begun this important work.

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Email: a.a.piccini@bristol.ac.uk