What did Mackenzie do?! - The angry and personal graffiti of Arctic Bay, Nunavut

North America’s third northernmost town saw its most excitement in years on 1 August, 2019. That’s when Parks Canada officially began protecting Tallurutiup Imanga, the largest marine conservation area in the country,¹ and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited to celebrate.

I somehow resisted the urge to stand in the background and get on television

A bilingual sign written in English and North Baffin Inuktitut

But I’m not here to talk about Justin. I’m here to talk about someone way more interesting: Mackenzie.

Arctic Bay is small and remote. Fewer than 900 people call it home, and the nearest town of 10,000 or more is over a thousand miles away, in Greenland no less.² Here, there are no gangs to tag territory, or spontaneous street artists to create controversial murals for city hall to get headaches over. There’s not even any spray paint, as far as I can tell. Just disgruntled young people armed with markers. And on one abandoned building in particular, the result is a fascinating microculture of anonymous aggression in which residents air their grievances via minor graffiti. Think of it like a community bulletin board, but for complaining about people who piss you off.

It’s worth mentioning that not all of the town’s graffiti is rude. I spotted this very friendly barrel-based message in someone’s yard:

And even our aforementioned abandoned canvas has a nice greeting near the front:

Until you get closer, at least.

I don’t believe Inuit are one of the minorities given officially sanctioned use of the n-word, but I’d honestly have to double check

And on the opposite side is our fabled wall of gripes:

Not sure I can make out who this one is directed to, but it sure isn’t positive

Christine should at least have the courtesy of explaining what the issue is

But by far the most referenced name here? Mackenzie.

This person has an entire laundry list of people who aggravate them:

The second most referenced name is Sonya.

I don’t even know what this one means to be honest

In one spot, we even get a message from Sonya herself:

Despite her apparent flaws, Sonya gets points for being the only one brave enough to personally sign their message

Not all the messages call out someone in particular. Some of them are more broad.

This person just seems angry at the world in general

We also have this one, an epigram to intimacy with men, scrawled in coloured pencil:

I mean, it might actually say ‘boring’ instead of ‘boning,’ but that would be less fun

And lastly, on a different but immediately adjacent abandoned building, a couple more can be found, including my favourite of all:

Not even the arctic is safe from the cultural influence of N.W.A

As well as this no-frills complaint, notable for including the only male name I could find:

We’ll likely never know if Caleb deserved this

In all, it seems like this culture of graffiti-as-grievances is limited to the young people of Arctic Bay, seemingly mostly the girls. As such, this shouldn’t be considered representative of the entire community.

But that doesn’t make it any less interesting. And the question is still going to keep me up at night: what has Mackenzie done to anger so many people? Does she deserve her maligned status? Or is she a victim of circumstance?

Mackenzie, if you’re out there: drop me a line. You’re my personal mystery celebrity.

¹The 1st of August 2019 was the de facto creation of the protected area, but not the de jure. This date was the signing of the Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement between Canada and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, and it’s the start of the area being given governmental protection. However, as of this writing, the Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area has not been officially enshrined as a protected area under the Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act, and won’t be until 2020.

²The town in question is Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. The closest distance between Arctic Bay and Nuuk in terms of exact municipal boundaries is 1,011.8 miles (1,628.3 km). In terms of closest physically built part of the towns, the closest is about 1,012.75 miles (1629.9 km). The town centers are approximately 1,020 miles (1641 km) apart. The second closest town of more than 10,000 people to Arctic Bay is Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada, no closer than 1,025.8 miles (1650.9 km) away.