Collections Highlight E424728: Woman’s Boots and Socks (Kamiks)
03/15/2019
By Mary Gay
These Kamiks (boots) and removable socks are affiliated with the Western Greenland Inuit Native group. The boots are made of red and white depilated sealskin (skin with the hair removed), with brown sealskin soles, and the socks are made of sealskin with fur on the inside. At some point, the brown fur cuffs above the white cuffs on the boots were removed from the socks and attached there. The beautiful embroidery seen on these boots is a method known a avigtat embroidery, invented by the Inuit of Greenland. This method is done by sewing tiny pieces of dyed skin into patterns. This style of Kamiks is referenced in The Art of Greenland by Bodil Kaalund which explains that long, red boots with this style of embroidery up the shin and around the knee were made for women getting married (147). The Kamiks measure 58 & 57 cm in height and the soles measure 23 & 21 cm in length. They were collected and donated by Paul Oscanyan in 1927-1928.
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