Canada
Pangnirtung
An Inuit hamlet at the mouth of a fjord where printmakers create Arctic art known worldwide.
The hamlet of Pangnirtung sits at sea level beneath peaks that rise over 1,000 metres straight up, creating a scale compression that makes the mountains feel like walls. Inside the Uqqurmiut Centre, Inuit women weave tapestries depicting the Arctic life happening just outside the window.
Pangnirtung is an Inuit community of about 1,500 on the shore of Pangnirtung Fjord, Baffin Island. The hamlet is the gateway to Auyuittuq National Park — the Akshayuk Pass begins at the end of the inlet. Pangnirtung's printmakers produce limited-edition prints sold in galleries worldwide, and the annual print release is a cultural event in the international art world. The Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts and Crafts creates traditional Inuit woven tapestries — large-scale textile works depicting Arctic life that hang in collections across Canada. The fjord itself is dramatic — dark water between towering walls of rock, with icebergs occasionally drifting past.
Solo
Pangnirtung rewards the culturally curious solo traveller — buy prints at the co-operative, watch weavers at work, and use the hamlet as a staging point for the Akshayuk Pass.
- Inuit printmakers here produce limited-edition prints sold in galleries worldwide — the annual print release is a cultural event.
- The fjord outside town is the gateway to Auyuittuq National Park — the Akshayuk Pass begins at the end of the inlet.
- Traditional Inuit textile arts — woven tapestries depicting Arctic life — are created in the Uqqurmiut Centre.
- The hamlet sits at sea level beneath 1,000-metre peaks — the scale compression is vertigo-inducing.
Arctic char dried in the wind outside every house — help yourself if you're invited.
Caribou jerky from the local hunter, shared at the community centre.
Bannock and tea at the Auyuittuq Lodge — Inuit hospitality at its warmest.
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