Beyond Her Horizons is an all-female polar expedition that navigated the Northwest Passage in 2023. Indigenous leader Okalik Eegeesiak, artist Jessica Houston, and polar scientist Noémie Planat sailed aboard the 16-meter sailboat Que Sera, visiting Inuit communities in Pond Inlet, Gjoa Haven, Cambridge Bay, Tuktoyaktuk, and Nome, Alaska. During the journey, Planat measured the salinity and temperature of the coastal Alaskan current, while Eegeesiak and Houston recorded Inuit women sharing their knowledge of the land, lighting the qulliq (a traditional oil lamp) and sewing garments — skills that were essential in helping early male explorers during first contact.

The team also gathered stories from women across the fields of underwater archaeology, citizen science, and research. The resulting film presents these women’s perspectives on the Arctic regions accompanied by footage of the sky, the ocean, and their meeting place — the horizon. The diverse narratives in Inuktut, English, and French redefine the notion of exploration and challenge the Doctrine of Discovery. Beyond Her Horizons suggests going beyond our limits of perception to reimagine our relationship to nature, whose centre is everywhere, and whose circumference is boundless.