Where Are The Caribou? Where Is The Snow? Another Once Upon A Time Story
2025
Black wool stroud, smoke tanned caribou hide, beads, various materials
62.5 x 61.5 inches

Creating this wall hanging affected me on multiple levels. It stirred up poignant, long-forgotten memories of Family, now passed. It made me deeply appreciate the family who are still here. And, my future family.

This was the last piece of black wool stroud my Mother and I purchased many years ago. I was using the last pieces of smoked tanned caribou hide that I was gifted throughout the years. I called up on the skills that I was taught or acquired throughout the years. I asked for insight and wondered how best to honour the insight granted.

As most good stories start, it starts as A Once Upon A Time - Again story, again.

Today, we mourn the disappearance of nearly 900,000 George River caribou that once roamed Labrador and Quebec, and wonder about the cause. Only a handful remain. Scientists and biologists do not have a definitive answer as to how or why the herd was decimated.

My Father, Allan Adams, once told us that the caribou have cycles of 70-80 years, where they disappear and then return. His father spoke of this happening in his lifetime. My father spoke of it in his. Now, here it is in this lifetime. Are caribou disappearances cyclic?

One legend tells of Torngatsok, an Inuit god who lives deep within the Torngat Mountains. Within this domain the caribou peacefully lived. Torngatsok loves all His creatures. It is said when Torngatsok saw Inuit dying from hunger, he freed his caribou from their subterranean mountain home, releasing them into the human world.

Today, displeased with humankind’s ill-treatment of all creatures and the World, he summoned His caribou to return. Here they reside, deep within the cold depths of the Torngat Mountains.

The Raven bears solemn witness to the last Caribou departing.

But, what of the snow's disappearance? Where is the snow we expect during Labrador's long winter? This year has been rain, rain, freezing rain, rain, ice and a few centimeters of snow.

I think of all the outdoor and aquatic creatures, trying to survive in such unpredictable weather. It makes many wonder if the caribou or the snow will ever return?

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