Frank Biringer —Tupilak

A couple of years ago I heard about Tupilaks from Greenland. A Tupilak is created by a shaman for the purposes of assassination and revenge. It is a construct built from the body parts of various species. Tupilaks are described in many folk tales in Greenland. Sending a Tupilak is dangerous - if the target turns out to be a more powerful shaman than the sender then the monster can be turned back on it's creator and harm him or her. No physical examples are known to survive but representations of them exist in the form of drawings, statues and carvings on whalebones. During walks along the local shore in western Norway I discovered many objects and started to relate these objects to imaginary parts of a Tupilak. I started to collect the mostly organic parts, brought them home and assembled them to installations and objects, giving them a new life that way.

Frank Biringer (b. 1969 in Saarbrücken, Germany) is based on the island Stord on the Norwegian west coast. His work has been shown in several group shows in Norway and Latvia and has been published in Der Greif #6 and #9. He enjoys editing book dummies. 2014 his book «From the daydreamer’s diary» was shortlisted for the Nordic Dummy Award. 2018 he self-published his first photo book «TUPILAK» in a limited, hand-bound edition.

For more information, please contact Frank Biringer at: amail@frankbiringer.com or visit: www.frankbiringer.com
Interview with Frank Biringer here