Indigenous peoples have been investigated, described, photographed and even showcased in exhibitions. Today, their descendants confront this (not necessarily distant) past, in order to face the pain and return the shame to its rightful owner: the Western gaze that turned the bodies of indigenous peoples into objects of curious inspection. In ethnographic collections and on the Internet, photos of indigenous people who are naked or almost naked abound. Drawing on cultural theorist, literary critic, and feminist scholar Sianne Nagai’s concept ‘ugly feelings’, the chapter focuses on two Greenlandic artists, Pia Arke (1958-2007) and Jessie Kleemann (born 1959), who use their own naked bodies to renegotiate these images. In particular, Ngai's notions of ‘animatedness’, and ‘stuplimity’ seem useful in describing the emotions the two artists bring to their viewers and which are an integral part of their performances.
Keywords: nudidity, indigeneity, feminism, (self)representation, Greenland Inuit.