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In the late 1980's Arke began to exhibit her paintings. In 1988, the artist developed her own life-size pin-hole camera (camera obscura) which she hand-built using pine and plywood, to photograph the landscapes of Greenland that she had known as a child. The results were exhibited in her exhibition Imaginary Homelands in 1990. The structure had a small entry-way where the artist would climb in and attach a sheet of film along the back wall. Light from the outside would then stream in through a small hole at the opposite end of the enclosure. The artist would often take advantage of the slow exposure process, (fifteen to thirty minutes) by staying in the box to manipulate the process through the use of her own body which would cast a visible shadow on the finished image.

In his ''Editors’ introduction to Pia Arke. Arctic Hysteria 1997'', Iben Mondrup describes how her exhibition was provocatively called "Arctic hysteria", given the controversial irrationality that was said to affect indigenous women. Her exhibitions and accompanying explanations encouraged Denmark to reexamine the colonial history of Greenland. While a number of exhibitions were held during her lifetime, the first major exhibition of her work in Denmark did not take place until after her death with Tupilakosaurus (2010).

Her art and photographs re-examine the places where she lived as a child revealing Denmark's repressive colonization. Tupilakosaurus consists of over 70 photographs, paintings, videos, installations and reports. As a result, Arke is now recognized as one of the Nordic region's most important postcolonial critics and players as a result of the artistic research which she practiced for two decades.