Watching: Ice Spider

Overview

Ice Spider is a collaboration between Saimaiyu Akesuk (Cape Dorset, Nunavut) and Cheryl Rondeau (Toronto, Canada). Inspired by Akesuk’s iconic drawing entitled Red Spider (2014), this experimental short employs the technique of stop-motion animation while making reference to the actual behaviour of the Arctic Wolf Spider, a genus of arachnid common across the North. Climate change has resulted in larger populations and increased predatory tendencies of this carnivorous and cannibalistic spider. This sci-fi influenced short animates the growing discourse around the ecological, political and cultural future of Canada’s Arctic. Background imagery was shot on location in Cape Dorset, Nunavut.