Inuit Art Quarterly - Multiples: Circulating Plenty

CONTENTS

36.3

Inuit Art Quarterly Multiples

Front

Features

Back CURATORIAL NOTES

05 Message from the Inuit Art Foundation

68 Anaanatta Unikkaangit (Our Mother’s Stories) curated by Marie-Anne Redhead

06 From the Editor

TRIBUTE

08 Meet the Contributors 10

74

Impact Update

Mary Lou Sours

by Cordelia Qiġñaaq Kellie

78 News 5 WORKS

16

Repeat Performance

LAST LOOK

80 Malaija Pootoogook CHOICE

18

Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich

by Ilegvak CHOICE

20 Florence Napaaq Malewotkuk

by Annie Wenstrup FEATURE ARTISTS’ CORNER

24 Supporting Indigenous Artists to Create and Experiment

32 Tarralik Duffy: The Art of Plenty

by Emily Laurent Henderson How the artist creates meaning through multiples.

PROFILE

26 Ulliaq Kowmuk

by Alyson Hardwick

FEATURE

42 Nunavik Printmaking through the Years: An Illustrated History

by Prim

The origins of an artmaking lineage that continues on today.

LEGACY

ON THE COVER

Tarralik Duffy — Teaturi (Red Rose Print) 2023 Digital illustration ALL © THE ARTIST

LEFT

58 Playing with the Past

by Mosha Folger

How the messages behind the Inuit Circumpolar Jam 1983 still resonate.

Saimaiyu Akesuk — Birds 2022 Graphite, coloured pencil, oil stick and felt-tip pen 58.4 × 38.1 cm

REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS COURTESY MARION SCOTT GALLERY © THE ARTIST

ABOVE

Annie Taipana — 9 Faces 2021 Felt and embroidery floss 49.5 × 44.5 cm COURTESY LA GUILDE

Multiples

3

Front

MASTHEAD PUBLISHER

EDITORIAL

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Inuit Art Quarterly is published by the Inuit Art Foundation.

Executive Director and Publisher Alysa Procida

President Heather Igloliorte Montreal, QC

Editorial Director (outgoing) Britt Gallpen

Vice-President Reneltta Arluk Vancouver, BC

Deputy Editor Sue Carter

Secretary-Treasurer Julie Grenier Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, QC

Established in 1987, the Inuit Art Foundation is a not-for-profit charitable organization that provides support to Canada’s Inuit arts communities and is the sole national body mandated to promote Inuit artists and art within Canada and internationally.

This magazine relies on donations made to the Inuit Art Foundation, a registered charitable organization in Canada (BN #121033724RR0001) and the United States (#980140282).

Tauttunnguaqti Napatsi Folger Associate Editor Lisa Frenette Associate Editor Jessica MacDonald

The Inuit Art Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of the Government of Canada through contributions from the Reconciliation Secretariat at Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage, as well as the Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts and Ontario Creates.

Associate Editor (interim) Tania De Rozario

Subscriptions subscribe@inuitartfoundation.org Canada: $33/yr. Excludes GST/HST. US: $44/yr. Elsewhere: $48/yr.

GST/HST #121033724RT0001.

Fact Checker Michelle Sones

The Inuit Art Quarterly is a member of Magazines Canada.

Publication date of this issue: September 15, 2023 ISSN 0831-6708 Publication Mail Agreement #40050252 Postmaster send address changes to Inuit Art Foundation.

Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Inuit Art Foundation 1655 Dupont Street Toronto, ON, M6P 3T1 (647) 498-7717 inuitartfoundation.org ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. THE INUIT ART QUARTERLY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR UNSOLICITED MATERIAL. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THE INUIT ART QUARTERLY ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE INUIT ART FOUNDATION. PRINTED IN CANADA. DISTRIBUTED BY MAGAZINES CANADA. FROM TIME TO TIME WE MAKE OUR SUBSCRIBERS’ NAMES AVAILABLE TO COMPANIES WHOSE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES WE FEEL MAY BE OF INTEREST TO YOU. TO BE EXCLUDED FROM THESE MAILINGS, PLEASE SEND YOUR REQUEST, ALONG WITH A COPY OF YOUR SUBSCRIPTION MAILING LABEL, TO THE ADDRESS ABOVE.

COURTESY INUIT ART FOUNDATION © THE ARTIST

Linda Grussani Ottawa, ON Goretti Kakuktinniq Kangiqliniq, NU Claudette Knight Toronto, ON Michael Massie Kippens, NL

Assistant Editor Leanne Inuarak-Dall

Ryan Rice Toronto, ON

Contributing Editor Bronson Jacque

Director in Training Isabelle Uyaralaaq Avingaq Choquette Montreal, QC

Copy Editor Tiffany Larter

OPPOSITE

Simon Tookoome — Happy People 1977 Stonecut 63.5 × 94 cm

Advertising Manager Nicholas Wattson Art Director Maegan Fidelino Colour Gas Company Printing Interprovincial Group —

FOUNDATION Strategic Initiatives Director Heather Campbell

Inuvialuit Settlement Region Community Liaison Darcie Bernhardt

Operations Manager Brittany Holliss

Nunavik Community Liaison Nancy Saunders

Executive Assistant Alyson Hardwick

Nunavut Community Liaison Jesse Tungilik

Staff Writer Blandina Attaarjuaq Makkik

Southern Canada Community Liaison Alberta Rose Williams

Awards Manager Paige Connell Artist Portal Coordinator Alessandra Montefiore Digital Outreach Facilitator Danielle Douez Program Officer Kyle Natkusiak Aleekuk Social Media Coordinator Maggie Hinbest

Inuit Art Quarterly

4

Fall 2023

MESSAGE FROM THE INUIT ART FOUNDATION

Thank you for reading the Inuit Art Quarterly and your dedication to Inuit artists.

We hope that you are having a lovely start to your fall after a restful and rejuvenating summer. This is such an exciting time for the Inuit art community­—thank you for being a part of it!

Second, to ensure you are able to enjoy new perspectives and varied content about the art we all love, we will be bringing on guest editors over the next year to lead issues of the magazine, beginning with Tauttunnguaqti Napatsi Folger for the Winter 2023 issue, coming this December. The IAQ will continue to evolve and reflect the amazing breadth of Inuit art and we’re confident you’ll continue to love the pages that celebrate artists and provide food for thought from within the community.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support of Inuit artists and the Inuit Art Quarterly—it is because of you that the magazine exists and can connect all of us—artists, collectors, curators, gallerists and everyone in our incredible community. This fall, we hope you enjoy this issue of the magazine and that you’re able to connect with the art we all love.

Over the next few months Inuit artists will be taking centre stage at many high-profile events. Inuit artists are participating in prestigious events around the world, including the Bonavista Biennale in Newfoundland, the Nuuk International Film Festival in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), Nocturne in Halifax, NS, the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival in Toronto, ON, Art Toronto and the Sobey Art Award, to name just a few. We are also looking forward to announcing this year’s winner of the Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award later this month and celebrating the enduring excellence and innovation of Inuit artists.

As important members of the Inuit art community, we want to let you know about some upcoming changes to the IAQ. First, Editorial Director Britt Gallpen is stepping down from her position with this issue. We thank Britt for her dedication to the magazine, which she led through a time of change to ensure the IAQ elevated diverse perspectives, championed all artforms and ensured emerging voices were nurtured.

Multiples

Heather Igloliorte IAF Board President 5

Alysa Procida Executive Director and Publisher Front

FROM THE EDITOR

Writing in a 1975 article for The Beaver (now Canada’s History Magazine), author Mary M. Craig, an employee with the Fine Arts Section of Canadian Arctic Producers, recounts the fervor and tension of the release of the Annual Cape Dorset Print collection.

“At midnight, lines begin to form outside the doors of darkened galleries where a selection of prints will be offered,” she writes.

“Each is silent about the print [they have] in mind. [They] may have seen it at a non-selling preview the previous day or [they] may have heard from a friend who attended the official opening in a distant city that an outstanding print . . . is offered in the year’s collection.” 1 It’s hard to overstate the intense desirability of collectors in the early years of the print collections. Today, art lovers have almost unfettered access to images of Inuit creative output. Artists share their artistic visions directly with audiences through social media where the image can be circulated, reposted, shared and saved in limitless numbers.

Still, in spite of this exponential increase in visibility, access and consumability, Inuit art continues to captivate the imaginations and desires of publics around the world.

Inuit Art Quarterly

6

ABOVE

Padloo Samayualie — Untitled (Jelly beans) 2015 Coloured pencil and ink 34.9 × 49.5 cm REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS COURTESY INUIT GALLERY OF VANCOUVER ALL © THE ARTIST

OPPOSITE

Jessie Oonark — Innuit Katitput (Gathering of Innuit) 1981 Printmaker Peter Sevoga Stonecut and stencil 46 × 63 cm COURTESY DAVIC GALLERY

NOTES

¹ Mary M. Craig, “The Cape Dorset Prints,” The Beaver, Spring 1975: 22.

Fall 2023

FROM THE EDITOR

Multiples, this issue’s theme, explores the complex and layered relationships artists have with reproduction.

Since the handwringing of Walter Benjamin’s seminal 1935 essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” the multiple has been a subject of debate, derision, celebration and opportunity for artists and their communities. For Inuit artists specifically, this subject cannot be untangled from cultural values rooted in abundance, sharing and bounty as explored in this issue’s Last Look by Tauttunnguaqti Napatsi Folger.

Our keystone Feature by Emily Laurent Henderson traces Tarralik Duffy’s career on the cusp of her Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award–winning solo exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq this fall. Duffy’s preoccupation and elevation of repetition through her graphic works as well as her love of revisiting the iconographies of her youth in Salliq, NU, saturate her colourful and irreverent works. In “Nunavik Printmaking Through the Years: An Illustrated History,” Prim, a multimedia artist from Ivujivik, Nunavik, QC, tells the story of how one early Puvirnituq, Nunavik, QC, workshop helped create an artmaking lineage that continues to this day. This piece is accompanied by newly commissioned illustrations by Jessica Malegana.

And finally, Inuk writer and filmmaker Mosha Folger explores the interconnection between art and politics and the parallels from past and present in his Legacy about the 1983 Inuit Circumpolar Conference.

Multiples

This issue is my last as Editorial Director of the Inuit Art Quarterly. When I started in 2015, I never dreamed of where we’d be today. This period has been full of growth, for both myself and the publication.

Together, with the artists we all cherish, our talented and dedicated team—past and present—and our incredible community of supporters we have achieved so much. Thousands of artists have shared their work and stories in our pages, IAQ writers have achieved critical success and opportunities, our global audience continues to grow and this award-winning magazine has earned the attention and accolades of our peers from across the industry. I am so proud of how far we’ve come and I cannot wait to see where the IAQ goes next.

Writing this feels a bit like signing a high school yearbook—bittersweet, full of possibility and with an inkling that my path may cross yours again in the future. It’s always hard to know when the time has come to leave something you love for new adventures, when to say goodbye, but I have every confidence that the IAQ is in loving and gifted hands and we are all the luckier for it. It has been a privilege and pleasure to work with the artists and writers you’ve seen in these pages over the past eight years and a joy to share their brilliance with you. Thank you with all my heart for the opportunity to do so.

Britt Gallpen Editorial Director

7

Front

MEET THE CONTRIBUTORS

A behind-the-scenes look at the issue The IAQ asked the contributors for Multiples to share with readers any surprises, inspirations or anecdotes about their work in this issue. Here is what they said:

“Writing this piece about Tarralik Duffy and her innovative practice came just as we opened her exhibition Tarralik Duffy: Let’s Go Quickstop at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Getting to spend extensive time in the enchanted world of Duffy’s creations both in the gallery and on the page made working on this Feature a unique and holistic experience. And we had fun while we were at it!”

EMILY LAURENT HENDERSON TARRALIK DUFFY: THE ART OF PLENTY PAGE 32

CORDELIA QIĠÑAAQ KELLIE TRIBUTE: MARY LOU SOURS PAGE 74

I sew with gratitude to leaders and teachers like Mary Lou Sours, who have created accessible avenues for successive generations to learn the skills our people have always known.”

MOSHA FOLGER PLAYING WITH THE PAST PAGE 58

“Writing this article, about an event my father covered in 1983, gave me an opportunity to find out more about the lives and careers of these artists.

I was happy to find that many of their influences and legacies are still felt to this day. ICC Jam 1983 certainly left a big impression on me as a child, and it was a pleasure to examine it from a fresh angle.”

This issue’s contributor illustrations are by Noanikhok Noanikhok is a multitalented artist who engages in a variety of artistic practices, from drawing and oil painting to creating jewellery and art with organic materials. She was born in Kangiqliniq, NU, and currently resides in Iqaluit, NU.

Visit her IAQ profile at inuitartfoundation.org/noanikhok

Inuit Art Quarterly

8

Fall 2023

COVER SPOTLIGHT

ANNIE WENSTRUP CHOICE: FLORENCE NAPAAQ MALEWOTKUK PAGE 20

“Having the chance to see Florence Napaaq Malewotkuk’s untitled work in person was humbling— noting how the edges were slightly marked from being handled and witnessing the faint pencil marks that had been inked over brought home that the image I was looking at was an expression of art as a practice, a way of being present and attuned to the world.”

Tarralik Duffy COVER SPOTLIGHT

ILEGVAK CHOICE: ERIN GGAADIMITS IVALU GINGRICH PAGE 18

I have been in awe of Ivalu’s artwork for years. It has left me breathless and, at times, speechless. Focusing on Natchiq was a surprising journey of unearthing what this work deeply means to me and, in turn, broadening my perception of how art, culture and relationships impact us daily.”

In 1962, when Andy Warhol painted his first Campbell’s Soup Cans, he did so with the intention of replicating the uniformity of the popular food item’s packaging.

Although Warhol professed to consuming the soup each day for lunch, his now-ubiquitous works don’t quite convey the coziness that comes with enjoying a familiar bowl of chicken noodle soup.

Sixty-one years later, the cover of this issue of Inuit Art Quarterly features a Pop Art–inspired grid of Red Rose Orange Pekoe boxes simply called Teaturi (Red Rose Print) (2023) from Saskatoon, SK–based artist, writer and designer Tarralik Duffy. Teaturi (Red Rose Print) is a recent addition to Duffy’s broader series in which she takes everyday items such as China Lily Soy Sauce, Carnation Condensed Milk and Magic Baking Powder—many of which she recalls from her youth, stocking shelves at her parents’ hotel in Salliq, NU— and reinterprets them through an Inuk lens.

In September 2021, shortly after winning the Inuit Art Foundation’s 2021 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award, Duffy told IAQ in an interview that “I’m drawn to these marketable and consumable items that have a really specific contrast and colour to them; I fi nd them really striking.”

Despite the fact that Duffy created this work digitally—a technology unavailable at the time to Warhol—her hand is present in how she reimagines the packaging of this favourite hot beverage in a rainbow of hues from its original crimson to violet, apricot, fuschia, indigo and emerald green. There’s a warmth that is often missing from Pop Art: one can imagine actually sitting down to enjoy a cup, or a few, with the artist.

ABOVE

Tarralik Duffy — Teaturi (Red Rose Print) (detail) 2023 Digital illustration

Check out this issue’s artists at inuitartfoundation.org/profiles Multiples

© THE ARTIST

9

Front

THANK YOU

Donors make all the difference The Ikajuqtiit Circle changes lives all year long Members of the Ikajuqtiit Circle—those who help—are caring donors who protect and nurture the Inuit art community.

As Ikajuqtiit Circle members, you provide opportunities for artists to explore their practices, learn new skills and grow. You raise global awareness and appreciation of Inuit art. The generous Ikajuqtiit Circle members listed on these pages make all this and more possible. Thank you!

Gifts listed here were made between June 30, 2022 to June 30, 2023.

Lipa Pitsiulak — Evening Games of Spring 1979 Printmaker Thomasie Alikatuktuk Stencil 30.5 × 93 cm COURTESY WAG-QAUMAJUQ AND THE GOVERNMENT OF NUNAVUT PHOTO LIANED MARCOLETA © THE ARTIST

Inuit Art Quarterly

10

Fall 2023

THANK YOU

Tunisiniq Nunarjjuaq Piuniqsauqumut Circle The Tunisiniq Nunarjjuaq Piuniqsauqumut Circle is a special group of donors who have included a legacy gift to the IAF in their will. In doing so they will leave a meaningful legacy that supports Inuit artists for generations to come.

Eleanor R. Erikson Bryan Hellwig Warren Howard Kathleen Lippa

Richard Sourkes Scott B. White Bea Zizlavsky

IAF Taqqitamaat Tunisijut Circle The Taqqitamaat Tunisijut Circle is a special group of donors who give monthly to sustain the IAF and create opportunities for artists.

Amy Adams Lea Algar-Moscoe Mary Anglim Andrea Arnold Stephen Baker Barbara and Vincent Barresi Jonathan Beth and Rex Rutchik Molly Blyth Robbin Bond Bill Bradley Christopher Bredt and Jamie Cameron Tobi Bruce Sue Carter Kay Cookie Cartwright Dr. Anne Croy Gordon Davidson Catherine Dean Anne-Marie Delaunay-Danizio Paulette Dennis Emmanuelle A. Desrochers Celia Denov Kelly Dickinson Hal Dietz Patricia and Donald Dodds Tracey Doherty Kate Doorly Sophie Dorais Mathieu Doucette Melanie Egan Leslie E. Eisenberg Engelstad Family Bob and Bernadette Engelstad F. Enright Lynn Feasey Kashtin Fitzsimons Maxime Fortin

Multiples

Evan and Dustin Maydaniuk, in loving memory of David Stewart and Catherine Maydaniuk Roxanne McCaig Elizabeth Mitchell and Stephen Lloyd Cathy Moser and Jeff Itzkow Paul Newman and Tomokazu Nakamura Rachel O’Neill Dawn Owen Aarohi Patel Kara Pearce André Picard Ann Posen, in honour of David Braidberg John and Joyce Price David Pride Alysa Procida and Kevin Stewart David and Robin Procida Maximilien Raab Eva Riis-Culver Margerit Roger Greg Rogers and Blandina Makkik, in honour of Inuit artists and the magazine that educates us Louise Rolingher Kassie Ruth Carol-Ann Ryan and Dr. Matthew Follwell Michael Ryan Bruno Savoie Leslie Saxon West

Alison Freebairn Lisa Frenette Britt Gallpen and Travis Vakenti Anik Glaude Deborah D. Gordon Dr. Andrew Gotowiec Linda Grussani Barbara Hale Andrea Hamilton Sari Hannila, in honour of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Inuit survivors, and the artists who tell Inuit stories. ᓇᑯᕐᒦᒃ Celia Harte Lisa R. Hartman Shawn Hassell Dianne Hayman Bryan Hellwig Brittany Holliss Robert Hurst Aphantasia Indigo Amy Jenkins Rozanne Junker Dr. Claudette Knight M. A. Konantz Katarina Kupca Martina Landry Nancy and Terry Lee Rebecca Lee Mike and Cindy MacMillan Samia Madwar, in honour of Hazar Shawaf Michael Martens, in memory of Miriam Bordofsky

11

Joanne Schmidt, in loving memory of Gail Schmidt Paul J. Skahan Michelle E. Smith Yu Song Michael and Melanie Southern Joyce and Fred Sparling Charmaine Spencer David Sproule, in loving memory of Robin Mercer-Sproule and Jean Katherine Sproule Suncor Energy Jacek Szulc Jay and Deborah Thomson Emilie Tremblay Gail Vanstone Rosalie Walls and Kathy Simas Robert and Brenda Watson Nicholas Wattson Gord and Laurie Webster Claude M. Weil, in honour of Jim Shirley Elka Weinstein Peggy Weller Karen Westrell and Bill Rosser Amanda Whitney Kim Wiebe and Aubrey Margolis Susan Wortzman and Glenn Smith and eight anonymous donors

Front

THANK YOU

IAF Tunisijut Circle

Monthly supporter Legacy supporter Multi-year pledge supporter Endowment supporter

With annual gifts of $1,000 or more, this incredibly dedicated group provides critical support to connect artists with opportunities and make an extraordinary impact.

$100,000+ RBC Foundation $50,000–$74,999 The Flanagan Foundation $25,000–$49,999 Carolyn Hsu-Balcer and Rene Balcer Virginia Watt Perpetual Trust $10,000–$24,999 The Chodos Family Foundation Erik Haites The Herb and Cece Schreiber Foundation $5,000–$9,999 Christopher Bredt and Jamie Cameron, in honour of Dorothy Cameron Eleanor R. Erikson Joram Piatigorsky $2,500–$4,999 Patricia and Donald Dodds Janice Gonsalves Charles Kingsley David and Liz Macdonald Paul and Carole Pizzolante Kassie Ruth Frances Scheidel Hunter Thompson The Tivi Family $1,000–$2,499 Arctic Co-operatives Limited Judy Banning Barbara and Vincent Barresi Jordy Bell and Stephen Jacoby Elise Brais Lisa-Margaret Stevenson Bryan Richard Budgell Gabrielle Campbell Colourgenics Fine Art Imaging

Inuit Art Quarterly

Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award supporter Inuit Art Quarterly supporter IAQ Profiles supporter Artist Services supporter

David Sproule, in loving memory of Robin Mercer-Sproule and Jean Katherine Sproule Gail Vanstone Cathy and David Wilkes Susan Wortzman and Glenn Smith Norman Zepp and Judith Varga Bea Zizlavsky and three anonymous donors (1 , 1 , 1 )

Janet and David Deisley Emily Deming Neil Devitt Hal Dietz Arthur Drache CM , QC and Judy Young Drache Jon and Valerie Eliassen Fath Group/O’Hanlon Paving Ltd. Patricia Feheley Robert and Karlen Fellows Nadine Nickner and Harald Finkler, in memory of Tim Pitsiulak Peter Gillespie, in memory of Ly Solomon on behalf of the Solomon and Gillespie Fund Linda Grussani Jackman Foundation Rawlson King Katarina Kupca Dr. Simon E. Lappi Hesty Leibtag Kathleen Lippa, in memory of Tony Stapells Maija M. Lutz and Peter A. Tassia MacDonald Griffin Charitable Foundation Patricia McKeown James Miller Lisa Niedenthal Shannon Norberg and Jarvis Hall Susan Ollila Jocelyn Piirainen Ann Posen, in honour of David Braidberg John and Joyce Price Andrew and Valerie Pringle Shirley Richardson Sanford and Deborah Riley Leslie Roden-Foreman Caroline Shaw

Illannarijaujut Tunngavinngmit $500–$999 James and Marjorie Abel, in honour of Xanthipi Abel and Richard E. Winslow III Devony Baugh Marc Bendick Jr. and Mary Lou Egan Jean Blane Katharine Bocking Gary Boratto Anne Borchardt, in memory of Claus Borchardt Claus Borchardt Shary Boyle Simon Brascoupé Tobi Bruce Margaret Bursaw, in memory of John Maounis Lili Chester Yvonne C. Condell Gordon Davidson Glenn Dobby and Catherine McInnes My Art Syndicate, Janette Doering, ISA AM Engelstad Family Bob and Bernadette Engelstad Maxime Fortin

12

Alain Fournier Sara Hassan Dianne Hayman Molly K. Heines and Thomas J. Moloney Bryan Hellwig Roger and Margaret Horton Heather Igloliorte and Matthew Brulotte Carola Kaegi Smaro Kamboureli Monty Kehl and Craig Wilbanks Lori Labatt Val Lem Christie MacInnes Kathryn Minard Elizabeth Mitchell and Stephen Lloyd Nancy Moore Scott Mullin Allan P. Newell Suzanne O’Hara Louisa O’Reilly Leon and Sharon Oberlander Martin Pâquet Alysa Procida and Kevin Stewart Wendy Rittenhouse Margerit Roger David Runkle Paula Santrach Celine Saucier Michael and Melanie Southern Suncor Energy Mark David Turner Nicholas Wattson Jonathan Weisz Kim Wiebe and Aubrey Margolis Peter L. Wilson and seven anonymous donors (1 , 4 , 2 )

Fall 2023

THANK YOU

$250–$499 Amy Adams Carole Ahmad and Family Lea Algar-Moscoe Eleanor Allgood Stephen Baker Susan Baum and Bob Ludwig Brian and Carol Belchamber Christel and Jurg Bieri John Butcher Rebecca Carbin Sue Carter Susan Charlesworth Wayne Clark Philip Davis Anne-Marie Delaunay-Danizio Celia Denov Sara Diamond Kelly Dickinson Tracey Doherty Kate Doorly Sophie Dorais Nathalie Ducamp Andy Fallas Alison Freebairn Lisa Frenette Britt Gallpen and Travis Vakenti Dr. and Mrs. Peter Gardner Jesse Goodman and Nicole Lurie Deborah D. Gordon Dr. Andrew Gotowiec Barbara Hale Andrea Hamilton Sari Hannila, in honour of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Inuit survivors, and the artists who tell Inuit stories. ᓇᑯᕐᒦᒃ Jackie Hatherly-Martin and Keith Martin Ingo Hessel

Multiples

Debby and Brian Hirsch Joanne Hommik Robert Hurst Lynn Jackson Patricia James, in honour of Pat Feheley Sharon Jorgens John Kean, in honour of Jenn Kean Sonya Kelliher-Combs Nancy Keppelman and Michael Smerza Dr. Claudette Knight Dr. Pirkko Koppinen Mary Kostman Carolyn M. Lawson Linda Lewis Joe and Sandra Lintz Nagesh Mahanthappa Michael Martens, in memory of Miriam Bordofsky Evan and Dustin Maydaniuk, in loving memory of David Stewart and Catherine Maydaniuk Lynne McCarthy and Claude Davis Robert Michaud Cathy Moser and Jeff Itzkow Charles Moss and Dee Fennner Paul Newman and Tomokazu Nakamura Michael and Brenda Noone Donna and Hal Olsen Dawn Owen Aarohi Patel Kara Pearce André Picard Barry Pottle Leslie Reid Dr. Timothy W. Reinig Eva Riis-Culver Bruce Roberts Kerstin Roger, on behalf of Margerit Roger

Brian Rogers, in memory of Reissa Gibbs Greg Rogers and Blandina Makkik, in honour of Inuit artists and the magazine that educates us Susan Rowley Carol-Ann Ryan and Dr. Matthew Follwell Michael Ryan Melina Rymberg, Alexander Davis and Asher Rymberg-Davis Dr. Jinder Sall Leslie Saxon West Joanne Schmidt, in loving memory of Gail Schmidt Mark Shiner Charmaine Spencer Amalia Steinberg Colleen Suche Michel Thabet Marie-Josée Therrien Jay and Deborah Thomson Kitty Thorne, in loving memory of the Davidee artists and to help support Inuit artists Carol J. Thrun Emilie Tremblay Joel and Evelyn Umlas Terry Vatrt Rosalie Walls and Kathy Simas Elka Weinstein Peggy Weller Garland Austin Withers Gail Wylie and Dave Wright Mark and Margie Zivin

13

$100–$249 Adgar Canada Patricia Allen and Leonard Dueck Wallace Altes Mary Anglim Diana Antoon Frank P. Araujo, for art, for the Inuit cultures and the bountiful interplay of the two Andrea Arnold Vancity Community Foundation – Dr. Hinda Avery Foundation Fund Birgit Bade and David Gooddie Dr. Jim Bader and Merri Van Dyke Catherine Badke Heather M. Beecroft Phyllis Berck and Bruce Kidd Jonathan Beth and Rex Rutchik Dr. Catherine Birt Molly Blyth Robbin Bond Jennifer Brown Kaaren and Julian Brown Stephen Bulger and Catherine Lash Rachel Buxton, in honour of Patty and Tom Reid Dorothy Caldwell Tracy Cambron Mary F. Campbell Kay Cookie Cartwright Françoise Chagnon David Cherepacha Shelley Chochinov Cobalt Art Gallery Carol A. Cole Catherine C. Cole Sarah Corless, in honour of Dr. Shelly Birnie-Lefcovitch Dr. Anne Croy

Front

THANK YOU

Raymond Currie and Charlene Thacker Currie Frederick Cutler Adelle Daviau, in memory of Sadie Angelique Daviau Catherine Dean Paulette Dennis Emmanuelle A. Desrochers Mathieu Doucette François Dumaine Melanie Egan Leslie E. Eisenberg Stephanie Ellis F. Enright Keith R. Evans KC Lynn Feasey Robin Field Shirley Finfrock Donna Fremont Ed Friedman Susan Gallpen Judith Gavin Glenn Gear Anik Glaude Carole Gobeil Gold Fund (2023) at the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Claire S. Gold Eddie Goldstein Karen and George Gorsline Ron Grapentine Jane Green Jill M. Greenberg John Hanjian and Carmen Nowak Tekla Harms Cary Hart, in memory of Gary Hart Sheila Hart, in honor of the many Inuit artists who have enriched my life through their work Celia Harte Lisa R. Hartman Clive Harvey Tatiana Harvey Shawn Hassell Laurie Herd Mark Hirschman Brittany Holliss Albert and Femmeke Holthuis David Homan Jane Horner Warren Howard David Humphrey

Inuit Art Quarterly

Aphantasia Indigo Jeannette Jackson-Thompson, in memory of Richard C. Thompson Amy Jenkins Anne and John Jones The Josie Family Cathie Josie Melinda Josie Rozanne Junker Anne Kearns Anne Louise Kelly Bert Kerstetter Karen Kimmett Jo-Ann Kolmes M. A. Konantz Lawrence and Joyce Lacroix Kathryn Lagrandeur Dr. Virginia Lavin Nancy and Terry Lee Rebecca Lee Gordon Leggett Jacob Lewis Jacqueline Littlewood Marilyn and Daryl Logan Denis Longchamps Dr. Marie A. Loyer P. Campbell Mackie Mike and Cindy MacMillan Samia Madwar, in honour of Hazar Shawaf Peter Malkin Kathy Mallett, in memory of parents John and Alice Jure Manfreda Dr. Neil and Elaine Margolis The Honourable Paul Mayer Jim Mayerle Roxanne McCaig Alison and Bruce McDonald Dr. Michelle McGeough John A. McKendry Phyllis McKinnon Colette Meehan Joanna Miazga Yves Morneau and Lisa Morneau-Rousson David Muir Iet Muylwyk Quirien Muylwyk Suzanne Nash Gary Nelson Elizabeth O’Grady, in honour of Jennipher Kean Rachel O’Neill Patrick Odier

Marina Oeler Dr. Robert Olson Penny Pattinson Kate Permut Ed Pien Richard and Annette Pivnick David Pride David and Robin Procida Maximilien Raab Mickey Ranalli Bayard D. Rea Micky Renders, in honour of Kim Renders Ron and Sigrid Rhodes Janet Robinson Anita Romaniuk Barry Rosenberg Gabriel J. Rosenberg Margaret Rundall Lynne B. Sagalyn Wally and Lenore Sapach Bruno Savoie Joanne Schwartz Paul J. Skahan Michelle E. Smith Yu Song Marjorie Sorrell Richard Sourkes Joyce and Fred Sparling Harriet Stairs Elizabeth Steinbrueck Sun Life Financial Jacek Szulc Pauline Taggart Charles and Carol Tator Diana Trafford Helen Tremblay Anne Vagi James and Louise Vesper Jon L. Vickery, MD Patrizia Villani Robert and Brenda Watson John Weber, in memory of Mary MacDonald Gord and Laurie Webster Claude M. Weil, in honour of Jim Shirley Karen Westrell and Bill Rosser Scott B. White Amanda Whitney Darlene Coward Wight Marianne Wightman, in memory of Colly Scullion Robert Wolf and 20 anonymous donors (5 , 6 , 3 )

14

Up to $99 Ariel Ahearn-Ligham Annie Akpaliapik Sue Asquith Oliver Aygun Neeraj Bahl Diane Biehl Mitch Birken Monica Bradford-Lea Bill Bradley Nancy L. Brennan Kevin Burns Charles Crockford Dennis Crowley David Dall Joan Davis Anna De Aguayo Cathy Degryse Sharon Dembo Wilfrid Denis Hilary Dickson Simone Dionne-Rancourt Kristin Dowell Amy Ede Jane F. Ely Pat English Yasemin Eroglu David Feiglin Kashtin Fitzsimons Chun Fong Ronald and Anne Foster Paula Frisch JoAnne and Richard Fuerst Caitlin Gauthier Hannah Gifford Ariel Godwin Peggy Gorman Catherine Grant, in honour of Tom McNulty Kristine Greenaway Susan C. Griswold Mary Hanson Alyson Hardwick on behalf of Delphine Shiwak Andrew Hardwick Janet Heagle Kathryn Heller-McRoberts Rick Hiebert TJ Holmes Andrew Hubbertz Glenys Huws James and Linda Igloliorte Lily Jackson, in honour of Lorna Jackson Erika Janik

Fall 2023

THANK YOU

Celina Jeffery Marya Jensen Brian Judd Jennifer Kennedy David Kerr Alia Khan Marc Lafontaine Martina Landry Mary Lawrence Breinig William Lee Marion Lord Laura MacDonald Myra Macoomb Catherine Madsen Geraldine and Peter Marshall Peter Allan McKitrick Mary McLaren Sean McMahon Colin Mein Stanley Middlestadt Melanie Milanich

Louise Rolingher Richard and Yvonne Rothenberg Janet Savard Kathryn Scott Patricia Scott Jeffrey Seidman Paul Shackel and Barbara Little sk Fiona Snow Janet L. Sponagle Superstar X Merren Jane Tardivelle Bertha Thompson Karen Thorne-Stone Matt Traversy Feliz Tupe Safina Vesuna Charles Voirin Maarten Vonhof Milly Walker

Marie Moet Oliver Moorhouse Peter Murphy Jennifer Nadeau Susan Newlove Peter Noteboom Keitrah Oakley Lauriane Ouellet Erin Palmer, in memory of Joan “Colly” Scullion Annie Paquin Naomi Pauls Krystal Pidborochynski Felicity Pope Steve Potocny Shirley and John Powell Sharlene Rankin Diane Ravenscroft Elizabeth Robinson Marilyn Robinson Henrietta Roi Irene Rokaw

Nancy Walkling, in memory of Frank O. Walkling James and Karen Walton Garnet Ward Jennifer White Mark and Margaret Whitley William Wood and 15 anonymous donors (1 , 7 , 1 , 3 )

You can make the difference There are more than 13,000 Inuit artists working in Canada today. Many face barriers to making and showcasing their work, but all deserve the same opportunities other artists have for their voices to be heard and their work to be seen.

By giving to the IAF, you help artists working across Inuit Nunangat and beyond connect to opportunities, have platforms for their work to be seen and build their careers.

Celebrate the art you love and make a difference by donating today.

To learn more about how to support artists, please contact us at 647-498-7717 ext. 104, visit us online at inuitartfoundation.org/ways-to-give or simply scan the QR code to the left.

Multiples

15

Front

5 WORKS

Repeat Performance IAF staff collect works that reveal a natural strength in numbers

2/

Mary Gordon

Untitled (2019) In her untitled photograph, Mary Gordon captures the striking allure of a traditional favourite for many Inuit— pitsik. The staggered line of drying fish, varying in colour from peachy pink to crimson, radiates against the backdrop of the navy-blue water. Despite the differences in length and colour, all the fish share the horizontal cuts made deep in the juicy flesh, essential for helping the fish dry out. This visually appealing pattern is an important technique passed down through generations, while also inviting eager fingers to reach out and rip off a tasty morsel. Gordon’s photograph beautifully celebrates the intricate repeating patterns that manifest in day-to-day life that often go unnoticed.

1/

Mary Paningajak

Untitled (2018) This 28-image panel, created by Mary Paningajak, emerged from the 2018 collaborative project Convergence North/ South, which brought together contributions from Paningajak alongside Lyne Bastien, Qumaq Iyaituk and Passa Mangiuk. Together these four artists created linocut forms on a variety of subjects, with Paningajak’s contributions focused on local Ivujivik flora.

This piece brings together the artist’s floral and plant-focused motifs in graphic black

and bright fuschia to produce layered, repeating configurations. Anchored in explorations of form, colour, pattern and composition, all three linocut panels from this project—Iyaituk and Mangiuk worked in deep blue and pale indigo, respectively— play with these iconographic components to create something entirely unique.

BRITT GALLPEN

Editorial Director

ABOVE

RIGHT

OPPOSITE (LEFT TOP)

Mary Paningajak — Untitled 2018 Linocut 99.1 × 168 cm

Mary Gordon — Untitled 2019 Digital photograph

Chesley Flowers — The George River Herd 1995–96 Wood and antler 121.9 x 121.9 cm

COURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS ALL © THE ARTIST

Inuit Art Quarterly

LISA FRENETTE

Associate Editor

COURTESY THE ROOMS PROVINCIAL ART GALLERY, MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY OF NEWFOUNDLAND COLLECTION

16

Fall 2023

5 WORKS

3/

5/

The George River Herd (1995–96)

Birds (n.d.)

Mary Yuusipik Singaqti

Chesley Flowers

Only a few years before a devastating 99 percent decline in the George River herd began, artist Chesley Flowers (1916–1998), from nearby Hopedale, Nunatsiavut, NL, summoned these miniature caribou out of wood and antler. Flowers skillfully infuses each figurine’s posture with a distinct expression—some are happily resting, others eagerly driving the march forward, while a few others appear hesitant. Despite the variation, the cohesion of the herd

persists. Today, with the George River herd’s ancient migration pattern along thousands of kilometres spanning Labrador and Quebec under threat, the variation turns into a question: How do we hold ourselves and each together within this great assembly in times of uncertainty?

DANIELLE DOUEZ

Digital Outreach Facilitator

I desperately want to see this wallhanging in person. Filled with stripy hot-pink and lime-green birds on an azure background, Mary Yuusipik Singaqti’s (1936–2017) Birds has so many tiny details I can barely grasp— even when zooming in on the artwork’s photograph. Up close, you can see where the artist presumably ran out of black thread in the upper-right corner and switched to light brown for her last four birds. She then carried that brown and the pink of their beaks into her border stitch.

Although there are similarities, no two feathered friends here are identical—I am particularly fond of the bat-shaped ones soaring near the top of the wallhanging. The work is so densely embroidered that I can’t even see the felt appliqued underneath each bird. Only up close could I fully appreciate the spellbinding movement of Singaqti’s swirling feathery lines, which run together like an optical illusion on my screen.

JESSICA MACDONALD

Associate Editor

4/

Mary Okheena

Musk-ox Waiting for the Tide to Cross Water (1986)

There is power in unity. Muskoxen inherently utilize this power to protect each other, as Mary Okheena depicts in Musk-ox Waiting for the Tide to Cross Water. Muskoxen stand shoulder to shoulder, individual golden horns and tawny rumps melding into each other until only their heart-shaped faces and cloven hooves can be distinguished.

They are connected as a single meandering line that mimics the river they are waiting to cross. Nestled between the protectors, a calf’s face peeks out, protected from predators by the herd’s defensive line. Together they are stronger than on their own; a message that empowers relationships within various species.

ALESSANDRA MONTEFIORE

Artist Portal Coordinator Multiples

17

LEFT (BOTTOM)

ABOVE

Mary Okheena — Musk-ox Waiting for the Tide to Cross Water 1986 Stencil 50 × 65 cm

Mary Yuusipik Singaqti — Birds n.d.

Wool felt, embroidery floss on wool duffle 67 × 98.5 cm

COURTESY INUIT ART FOUNDATION

COURTESY WAG-QAUMAJUQ PHOTO LIANED MARCOLETA

Front

CHOICE

Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich Natchiq

by Ilegvak

Inuit Art Quarterly

18

Fall 2023

CHOICE

Natchiq conveys our ancestral relationship with seals—one steeped in time, where interdependence is not only a necessity to survive but is celebrated.

Indents wisp across the mask where Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich has hand-carved the wood. These small furrows simultaneously capture and reflect light, like ripples amongst the water where seals make their living—robustly transporting the animal’s environment to the viewer: a place of early morning fog and sleet.

Streaks of white paint float up the long, slender snout, fading into a mist of gray. Glimmers of light bounce off the cranium, like the sheen of wet fur and glare ice.

A cluster of circular, translucent spots along the brow motion towards something more symbolic than tangible—beyond snowfall or the animal’s distinct fur pattern. The soft, spherical shapes correlate with the broader curvature of the mask, where the sleek form of a seal meets the skull of the human wearing it.

Blending these two spiritually tied worlds makes this work of art as functional as it is aesthetically striking.

Natchiq (2014) conveys our ancestral relationship with seals—one steeped in time, where interdependence is not only a necessity to survive but is celebrated.

The representation of these Alaska Native cultural components speaks to me the loudest, and this resonates with me as a Yup’ik artist and as someone who traditionally hunts seals.

The blubber, meat and organs of the seal are cherished for their gift of nourishment. Seal oil extends farther than just a food source; it is used for heat and flickering light in stone lamps. Pale bones are used for tools, and dotted fur and lucid gut are used to protect our vulnerable, delicate bodies in the cold.

The tenderness of this relationship is rooted in interconnection, in kinship.

Masks articulate the importance of this affinity and are significant in facilitating this bond. During a phone interview about her work as a mask maker, Ivalu states, “There’s these historical uses of masks for connecting with wild relatives and trying to assist with hunts and these relationships.” Ivalu explains, “Natchiq are some of the most benevolent and giving presences in the North . . . representing them has always been about

honouring their gifts and their power to provide us with so much as northern people.”

While making this carving, Ivalu initially wanted to represent that generosity in gathering; however, the process advised her otherwise. “I learned this mask was not meant to be that representation of harvest.

It was meant to be a representation of presence and life.” Ivalu further explains the transformation that took place: “When I first carved it, its eyes were closed and it informed me . . . it needs to be able to see and it needs to be able to look back at us.”

My experience of the mask transports me to a rocky beach, where I watch the silent grace of a seal’s head suddenly appear on the ocean’s surface—keeping its body hidden below the swell. The shimmering strands of pastel beads connect the eyes and mouth, providing breath. When I asked Ivalu about them, she said, “It’s also where the natchiq would make ripples if you saw it swimming in the water. You see these ripples coming out of their face and from their whiskers as they pop up.” When I look at Natchiq, I perceive life flowing through the piece, including its essence.

— Ilegvak is a Fellow in the Inuit Art Foundation’s inaugural Alaska Native Art Writing Fellowship program. He is originally from his family’s village of Akiaq, now based in Sheet’ká. He is currently writing a non-fiction book on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. He has been published in First Alaskans Magazine and Inuit Art Quarterly, with articles covering various topics, including Native rights, art, environmental justice and dismantling colonialism. His visual art has been shown at museums, galleries and fashion runways across Turtle Island.

Ilegvak is a 2022 United States Artists Fellow.

This Choice was made possible through support from the CIRI Foundation for the Inuit Art Foundation’s 2023 Alaska Native Art Writing Fellowship.

Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich — Natchiq 2014 Basswood, acrylic and glass beads 25.4 × 19.1 × 8 cm © THE ARTIST

Multiples

19

Front

CHOICE

Florence Napaaq Malewotkuk Untitled

by Annie Wenstrup

Florence Napaaq Malewotkuk — Untitled 1927 Ink and watercolour 17.1 × 24.8 cm COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA MUSEUM OF THE NORTH PHOTO KARINNA GOMEZ © THE ARTIST

Inuit Art Quarterly

20

Fall 2023

CHOICE

their pants, the middle figure’s parka and parts of their hunting gear are unpigmented.

But, looking again, I see that their clothing and gear echo the un-inked sky. Then, when looking at the icescape directly behind the men, it becomes harder to see them as separate from the world that they occupy. The men’s bodies mimic the black line that delineates the ice. See the man on the left? How the line of his back and head hug the ice’s outline? The mirroring extends as the eye moves towards the right. Even the third man’s body becomes enfolded into the landscape.

The image resolves itself.

At first, I read the man on the right as domineering. His body creates the strongest vertical line in a work defined by horizontal lines. He is set apart from the other figures, not touching them or the walrus. Instead, he gestures towards them. Then, looking at the walrus, the image harmonizes. The men’s bodies aren’t just copying the shape of the ice. They’re recreating the walrus’s form: sloping upward at the left, rounding in the centre. The upright man mirrors the walrus’s tusks. The walrus, then, sets the pattern for the image.

It’s the horizontal line of his back that pulls the sky and water into unity. It’s his form that the landscape and men recreate. No wonder his red blood is the first and last colour to register with the eye.

The first thing you see is red.

No. The first thing you see is the horizon. Its bands of light and dark assure you that the water is calm and the sky is clear.

Then the small amount of red blood in the foreground commands your eye and invites it to pause. There, a hunting scene unfolds: hunting gear on the ice, three men surrounding a walrus. Two of the men are already at work—one on the belly, the other grips the tusks. The third man (we’ll return to him) stands slightly to the side, pointing at the walrus’s head. A grey and yellow boat rests behind the men. Past them, the image opens to water, ice and sky.

Before the narrative, the land.

What strikes me about this painting is its insistence on place.

I notice it in the attention that Florence Napaaq Malewotkuk (1906–1971) paid to how she constructs the image. First the outlines are penciled in. Then they’re inked over. After that, filled in with pigment. One of Malewotkuk’s decisions is especially compelling: the paper’s original cream colour is present in the unpigmented sky. In contrast, the white ice must have been painted or inked in. In part this was a practical choice.

Malewotkuk began her artistic career in elementary school and continued her practice throughout her life in Sivuqaq (Gambell), Alaska. Her works were widely collected, most notably by the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. And while she made hundreds of drawings, Malewotkuk had limited access to art supplies and was often dependent on others for materials. Her use of cream paper was probably less of a choice than a necessity. But something else seems possible in Malewotkuk’s choice to ink in the ice and snow; an insistence on their presence and importance to understanding the tableaux.

Malewotkuk’s arrangement of the three human figures and walrus makes a similar insistence: the four beings are integrated into the landscape. At first—perhaps because of my own westernized eye—the walrus, men and hunting gear seem set apart in the image. They’re rendered in a different palette from the setting.

It’s notable that there’s negative space amongst their belongings—

Multiples

— Annie Wenstrup (Dena’ina) is a Fellow in the Inuit Art Foundation’s inaugural Alaska Native Art Writing Fellowship program. She lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. Her family is from Kahtnu Qayeh (Kenai), Alaska, and Stillwater, Oklahoma. Wenstrup is a poet and writer. Her work examines topics such as the more-than-human world, genetics, the myth of The Last Frontier, as well as Indigenous art and museum spaces.

This Choice was made possible through support from the CIRI Foundation for the Inuit Art Foundation’s 2023 Alaska Native Art Writing Fellowship.

21

Front

Congratulations to the five outstanding artists on this year’s Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award shortlist!

Billy Gauthier

Kablusiak

Maureen Gruben

Ningiukulu Teevee

Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona

Programming Partner

Generously supported by

and many members of the Inuit art community

PHOTO OF BILLY GAUTHIER BY MEGAN STEWART. ALL OTHER PHOTOS COURTESY THE ARTIST .

Learn more at: inuitartfoundation.org/kama

Gasoline Rainbows TARRALIK DUFFY

OPENS SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

I N PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H

wag.ca

Tarralik Duffy, Supuujuuq Dreams, 2023, Digital Drawing.Courtesy of the Artist

Recipient of the 2021 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award

ARTISTS’ CORNER

Supporting Indigenous Artists to Create and Experiment Creating artwork and growing an artistic practice can be both rewarding and challenging for any artist. The Inuit Art Foundation (IAF), in partnership with several organizations, including the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), co-delivers funding to support artists on their creative path by connecting them with funding opportunities to help support artistic creation, build their practices and expand their skills. Here is one grant program that is making a difference in Inuit artists’ lives.

Indigenous Visual Artists’ Materials (IVAM) Through IAF’s partnership with the OAC, IVAM supports Ontario-based Indigenous artists working in the visual arts, crafts or traditional/customary art forms to create their artwork. Artists can receive grants of $500 or $1,000 to help cover the costs of art materials and supplies.

Since 2021 the IAF has served as an official recommender for this grant. Recommenders are organizations in the artistic community designated by the OAC to receive and assess

applications in certain grant programs, and to make recommendations for funding. Applications are assessed by an external, all-Inuit Peer Assessment Committee selected by the IAF. We would like to congratulate all the Inuit artists the IAF has recommended for funding for the 2022–2023 program! Here, three IVAM grant recipients share their experiences and advice.

Tuutalik Noah

“This opportunity is different because it’s not just for successful or experienced artists. I started crocheting to prevent any mental health issues during the COVID-19 mandatory isolation. I’ve completed blankets, purses, sweaters, crop tops, earrings and other fun items. All you can do is try.

If you’re not successful the first time, try again.”

LEFT

Tuutalik Noah — Pink and White Doily 2023 Cotton yarn 12 × 12 cm ALL © THE ARTIST

Inuit Art Quarterly

24

OPPOSITE (TOP)

Tammy Ann Hannaford — Earrings 2023 Antler, resin, pressed fireweed and 14k gold handmade hooks 3.8 × 3.8 cm

Fall 2023

ARTISTS’ CORNER

Tammy Hannaford

“Apply! It’s such a big help. Any extra money goes a long way when preparing for the future. Extra money allows us to improve our setups (therefore our efficiency), stock up on supplies and so much more. It really makes such a big difference to an artist. The grant helped me get ahead by paying for the materials for a month’s worth of work and I was able to use the extra to buy some shelving for my workshop, new bits, some resin molds and a new flex shaft for my rotary tool.”

Annie Amaruq

“The IVAM grant helped me get the tools and materials I needed to start on new projects. My advice for those who want to apply: it’s never too late. The grant will help a lot with the tools and materials you need. You will also see how far you have come with your projects.

It is a wonderful feeling when you have accomplished something that is new to you.”

LEFT

Annie Amaruq — Sealskin Mittens 2022 Sealskin and fox fur Dimensions variable

We strongly encourage all Ontario-based Indigenous visual artists to apply for the 2023–2024 IVAM program. Applications will open in September 2023.

For more information please visit arts.on.ca/grants/indigenous-visual-artists-materials

Multiples

25

Front

PROFILE BELOW

Ulliaq Kowmuk

Ulliaq Kowmuk — Inner Peace 2021 Digital drawing ALL © THE ARTIST

by Alyson Hardwick

Content note: This article contains a discussion about abuse and lateral violence.

Iqaluit, NU, artist Ulliaq Kowmuk has been creating with media such as painting and ceramics since age 13, but more recently she’s been working with digital art. “It’s easier to [create] my idea on my device,” she says. “[There is also a] limit of resources, especially in Iqaluit.” 1 A strong, tough energy comes through her work with its dark backgrounds and moody jewel tones, and in how it balances darkness and femininity. Inner Peace (2021) features the repeating imagery of three faces of women decorated with Inuit Art Quarterly

tunniit, lipstick and the halo glow of fur hoods. Kowmuk mirrors these in one of her jewellery designs—her earrings feature beautiful round faces with their eyes closed, painted on clay and encircled with dyed fox fur. The faces in both Inner Peace and these earrings share a confident, at ease expression. A throughline of serene power exudes from Kowmuk’s work that nods to the energy she puts out into the world.

In fall 2019 Kowmuk’s three digital drawings of hands, Middle Finger with 26

Tattoos—drawn in various skin tones with each bearing kakiniit and giving the middle finger—became popular on Instagram. She speaks carefully and tenderly about what drove her to create the work. “How could I show without words how I feel? A middle finger is like telling someone to fuck off without having to actually say it,” she says. The reaction from her community was a mix of shame and anger. However it allowed Kowmuk to connect with other Inuit women who responded with similar stories and experiences. “I wanted to find a healthier way to cope with my feelings and how I felt [when] I just left an abusive relationship.”

Kowmuk is aware of how important it is to speak openly about the reality of abuse within her community. “I felt so isolated and stuck in this mindset, due to other people saying that I need to forgive, I need to move on,” she says.

Creating Middle Finger with Tattoos was cathartic for Kowmuk and offered a space of healing for the Inuit women who responded to the artist’s work by sharing their own stories of being silenced by family and community members. “I love using my voice,” Kowmuk says, “because it’s hard to find those who actually do stand up for these women and these children to feel empowered.”

I do not exaggerate when I say that Kowmuk is incredibly brave—a word we toss around too easily—for sharing her resistance, rage and defiance against the ongoing violence against Inuit women.

Public vulnerability provides an opportunity to shrink other survivors’ shame. Their pain. Without it, the silence can trigger feelings of deep shame and unheard emotional pain, like screaming in a soundproof room.

The digital drawing Silent (2020) was born from the harsh reaction some people had to Middle Finger with Tattoos.

Kowmuk used simple thin pink lines on a black background to create a close-up of an Inuk woman’s mouth and throat.

“Silence can be deafening to some.

Inuit women are often made to be silent Fall 2023

PROFILE

ABOVE (LEFT)

for years, [but] there is healing and action towards holding abusers accountable for their actions. The time is coming where the silence will end,” she says.

The most incredible outcome of Kowmuk sharing her raw and honest art was the discovery that she was not alone. Survivors are everywhere, and a way forward exists in embracing and loving within this community and gifting each other the opportunity to speak out ourselves. Many abusers thrive on silence and isolation, they depend on it. Art provides survivors a space to grieve, share and a chance to conceptualize a better future. That impact is not a small feat.

Multiples

— Alyson Hardwick is a Toronto, ON–based Inuk photographer, writer, poet and artist.

Specializing in portrait film photography, Hardwick has worked with an array of clients such as Vice News, The Globe and Mail, Urban Outfitters as well as the Inuit Art Quarterly. With roots in Nunatsiavut, England and Nova Scotia, Hardwick continues to freelance while also working at the Inuit Art Foundation as an Executive Assistant.

Middle Finger with Tattoos 2019 Digital drawing ABOVE (RIGHT TOP)

Untitled 2021 Fox fur, acrylic and clay Approximately 13 cm × 13 cm ABOVE (RIGHT BOTTOM)

Silent 2020 Digital drawing NOTES

This Profile was made possible through support from RBC Emerging Artists.

27

¹ All quotes Ulliaq Kowmuk, interview with Alyson Hardwick, December 2022.

Front

Inuit cultural educator Martha Flaherty

©Scott Forsyth

©Jen Derbach

©Jen Derbach

©Dennis Minty

Embark on an Epic Journey into the Heart of the Inuit Homelands Sail through one of the world’s most celebrated ocean routes, the Northwest Passage. Travel with Inuit cultural educators and learn firsthand about the region’s ancient history and modernday Inuit sovereignty.

Enjoy a warm welcome in Nunavut and Greenland communities and listen to breathtaking throat singing performances.

Sample scrumptious Arctic cuisine and see stone turned into art by master carvers.

Search for rich Arctic wildlife—polar bears, muskoxen, narwhals, belugas, and walruses— and witness breathtaking icy landscapes with knowledgeable locals.

Join us on this thrilling Arctic journey with the people who know it best!

LEARN MORE

advcan.ca/iaq-arctic 800.363.7566 Adventure Canada, 55 Woodlawn Ave, Mississauga, ON L5G 3K7 Canada, TICO Reg# 4001400

Canadian-owned and operated since 1987

Some of the photographs in this advertisement were taken with a telephoto (zoom) lens and may appear closer to ice and wildlife than we really were. We always keep a safe distance and follow mandated regulations.

Kenojuak Ashevak A Retrospective

Works from the John & Joyce Price Collection

September 2023

Artwork details: (Top) OWL AND ANIMAL FRIENDS, 1998, Coloured pencil & ink, 20 x 26 in.

(Bottom Left) BRINDS FROM THE SEA, 1960, Stencil, 18 1/2 x 23 1/2 in.

(Bottom Right) OWL TRANSFORMATION, ca. 1970, Stone, 14 x 19 x 9 in.

www.feheleyfinearts.com

-

gallery@feheleyfinearts.com

-

65 George Street, Toronto

-

416 323 1373

Invitation to Consign FALL

inuitart@waddingtons.ca - - - - - X

JOE TALIRUNILI

YOUR ONLINE ART GALLERY AUTHENTIC • SECURE • TRUSTED

Jutai Toonoo The Saw (Cape Dorset, 2010)

REPRODUSED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS © THE ARTIST

www.NativeCanadianArts.com

phone: 604.679.8392

Inuit Art Quarterly

info@nativecanadianarts.com

30

Fall 2023

606 VIEW STREE T VIC TORIA, B.C. 250 380 4660 W W W . M A D R O N A G A L L E R Y. C O M

ABRAHAM ANGHIK RUBEN M O U N TA I N S P I R I T S 37.5 x 53.5 x 25.5 cm WHALE BONE

Multiples

31

Front

TA R R A L I K

DUFFY

THE ART OF

PLENT Y —

by Emily Laurent Henderson

For multidisciplinary artist Tarralik Duffy, her lived experiences as an Inuk who grew up in the North are a source of inspiration for her numerous creations. From visual art and textiles to merchandise and jewellery, Duffy’s penchant for multiples knows no bounds. In this Feature, Emily Laurent Henderson speaks with Duffy about her love for meaning-making through art and about the array of paths it has opened up before her.

PREVIOUS

ABOVE

Tarralik Duffy — Mother’s milk (detail) 2023 Digitized pencil drawing

small ushuk energy 2023 Digital illustration

ALL © THE ARTIST

Inuit Art Quarterly

34

Fall 2023

“Inuit have always celebrated plenty,” Tarralik Duffy concludes after an expansive call, where we catch up on our lives and talk about the rapid evolution of Duffy’s art over the past couple of years.1 Plentiful is indeed a way to think of her work, known for its multiplicity, pattern and repetition—elements, which for her, call to mind everything from a herd of caribou to the rows of cans stocking the shelves at her parents’ hotel in Salliq, NU. For Duffy, her practice is a way to celebrate daily life as well as the food and implements that hold particular significance and memory for her.

“It’s about sustenance,” she says. “Part of my everyday life as a child was going to the store. You would never see just one of anything—they would be arranged together, repeating over and over on the shelves.”

The local Quickstop, a northern convenience store chain, is the central inspiration of Duffy’s 2023 Art Gallery of Ontario exhibition Tarralik Duffy: Let’s Go Quickstop, curated by Taqralik Partridge, the gallery’s Associate Curator, Indigenous Art – Inuit Art Focus, with assistance from myself. It features many classic hallmarks of Duffy’s work, including a gargantuan mural of classic items sold at Quickstops like condensed milk, corned beef and baking powder.

Duffy’s organic approach to the vast range of materials that she employs and to the various forms of artmaking that she engages with reflects a multidisciplinary way of working that lends itself easily to notions of plenty. This approach has been consistent throughout her artistic career—from her early days of experimenting with pen drawings alongside her sister, to the serendipitous birth in 2012 of her jewellery and apparel line, Ugly Fish. She is widely known within the Inuit community and beyond for her iconic earrings, bolo ties and other accessories created using whale intervertebral discs. The idea first came to her while walking along the shore in Salliq. She noticed two discs that had washed ashore next to each other, sparking the idea to collect them and turn them into art. Even nature is plentiful when it comes to providing Duffy with inspiration and material.

“It was very significant and magnetic, like I was having a dream of Nuliajuk,” she recalls. “I felt something sacred was happening. I had fallen in love with those pieces of bone that were gifted to me. It then became a slow progression towards obsessively looking for bones, and at first I was collecting bones that were a little bit cleaner, but then I wasn’t as squeamish so I started picking up bones that might still have flesh or sinew attached. And then I would take them home, clean them up and make them into jewellery or, as I like to say, I took them from gross to Gucci.”

Fans of Duffy’s work will recall her playful pop-art take on the essentials of everyday living in the North: digital drawings in which products such as Klik, Maple Leaf Vienna Sausage and a whimsical can of seal— which she has dubbed the “the best natsiq, the Cow of the Sea”—are replicated until they become motifs of a larger, repeating pattern. Pop, chips and chocolate, the most popular snack foods, would eventually become the focus of her solo show Pop Chip Kukuk, also curated by Partridge, which opened which opened in 2022 at SAW Nordic Lab in Ottawa, ON. This “Holy Trinity” of snacks is embedded in her memories of long trips out onto the land, each commencing with an ever-important trip to the Northern store.

“We’d always go get what’s called taquaq,” Duffy recalls. “Taquaq is like the food you bring along when

Multiples

35

ABOVE (TOP)

ABOVE (BOTTOM)

Tarralik Duffy, 2023

Kuuka Kuula 2023 Digital illustration

Tarralik Duffy: The Art of Plenty

LEFT

OPPOSITE

Ugly Fish items modelled by Dakota Ray Hebert: Klik onesie, Red Rose leggings, triple dangle beluga bone earrings, and a beluga tooth and sterling silver pendant

Installation views of Pop Chip Kukuk at SAW Nordic Lab, Ottawa, 2022 COURTESY SAW GALLERY NORDIC LAB PHOTO CURTIS PERRY / JUSTIN WONNACOTT

PHOTO SWEETMOON PHOTOGRAPHY

you’re going out on the land, sometimes for weeks or months at a time. So when my mother was taking us up to the cabin, we’d stop at the Co-op or the Northern first and she would let us pick out a snack to bring along.

As kids, we’d obviously pick chips or like a chocolate bar, and I was always a salty-chips kind of kid. But pop was the ‘black gold’ of the North, and if you’re from Nunavut, you know there’s such a thing as ‘fresh pop.’

If a pop has been sitting too long since the last sealift, it starts to lose its freshness.”

In homage to dreams of “fresh pop,” Duffy crafted a larger-than-life leather Pepsi can as part of her recent ventures into soft sculpture. Pipsi (2022) premiered at Pop Chip Kukuk as a blue, nearly five-foot-long can emblazoned with syllabics. The title of the piece is in fact a play on words: it also references dried Arctic char, or “pipsi,” which is another fan favourite delicacy in the North. The piece is carefully handsewn and its edges are wrapped around hula hoops at either end in order to give the piece its cylindrical shape.

John Geoghegan, former Inuit Art Quarterly Senior Editor, and Associate Curator, Collections & Research at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, ON, observes how Duffy subverts expectations that Inuit sculpture is only ever created out of stone, bone, antler or other hard materials.

“Her work in soft sculpture is both playful and political,” he says.2 “Confronting a jumbo Klik tin or a human-size Pepsi can seem, perhaps, ridiculous.

But their larger-than-life scale asks us to consider the pervasiveness of these foodstuffs in Inuit communities and what they’ve replaced.”

Displayed on the upper floor of SAW in a room painted in vivid pink, the can was paired with other elements of Duffy’s pop-art practice, including a graphic-art band T-shirt series called Inuit Art Icons, which include famous Inuit artists such as Shuvinai Ashoona, RCA, and throat singer Tanya Tagaq, CM, mugs, buttons and Inuk-ified versions of popular-culture references such as a reimagined Rosie the Riveter sporting tunniit and a floral scarf. Her work was complemented by a screening of the TV show Super Shamou, featuring an Inuk superhero character created

by Barney Pattunguyak and Peter Tapatai, ONu. The popular character—who was originally developed in 1987 as part of a one-off comic to teach Inuit children and teens about the dangers of inhaling solvents— evolved into a superhero dedicated to protecting the wilderness and rescuing those in peril. Using snack foods, poster art, installation and T-shirts that were both part of the display and available for purchase, Pop Chip Kukuk celebrated Inuit art and Inuit art heroes through Duffy’s unique vision while posing a question often inherent to her work: what would the world look like if Inuit culture was the mainstream cultural influence?

Prior to Pipsi, Duffy’s first use of soft sculpture began at the suggestion of Art Gallery of Guelph (AGG)

Inuit Art Quarterly

36

Fall 2023

Multiples

37

Tarralik Duffy: The Art of Plenty

ABOVE

OPPOSITE (TOP)

OPPOSITE (BOTTOM)

Quickstop 2021 Pencil crayon 27.9 × 36.6 cm

Installation view of ᐃᓅᓯᕋ | Inuusira at Art Gallery of Guelph, 2021

Afternoon at Saviqquq’s Cabin 2021 Pencil crayon 27.9 × 36.6 cm

ALL COURTESY ART GALLERY OF GUELPH ALL PHOTO TONI HAFKENSCHEID

Inuit Art Quarterly

38

Fall 2023

Executive Director Shauna McCabe during the lead-up to Duffy’s 2021 AGG exhibition, ᐃᓅᓯᕋ | Inuusira.

Unsure of what to produce at first, Duffy turned to what material she already had on hand, and some previously thrifted bolts of red leather lent themselves well to the production of two jerry cans.

“I like things to present themselves to me,” she says of the ever-expanding development of her practice.

Like Pipsi, these pieces are sewn entirely by hand, in a practice that she feels connects her to the ingenuity of her ancestors, who would have hand-sewn clothing for entire families as well as embarked on enormous projects such as skin tents which would have sheltered the family during summertime. ᐃᓅᓯᕋ | Inuusira, curated by Partridge, also featured call-and-response work to iconic Inuit artists and the worlds they reflect and create anew in their art.

Largely produced in response to an illustrated biography of Pitseolak Ashoona, CM, RCA (1904–1983), Pitseolak: Pictures Out of My Life (1971), thought to be the second-ever book to be published in both English and Inuktitut syllabics after the bible, ᐃᓅᓯᕋ | Inuusira, translating to “My Life,” explores Ashoona’s colourful renditions of daily life in the North alongside works by Duffy. During the AGG artist talk about ᐃᓅᓯᕋ | Inuusira,3 Duffy and Partridge described the book as being a work that had a significant impact on them both as children. Duffy talked about how it held deep significance for her and reminisced fondly about leafing through the pages of the copy left out by her parents for hotel guests to peruse.

“I’ve come to really appreciate the everyday items that Inuit have always drawn . . . and how the items that surround us are changing,” 3 Duffy explains during the AGG artist talk, reflecting on the way that the small accoutrements of the everyday once depicted by Ashoona have shifted slightly in the generations between them. Despite this, Duffy’s commitment to bold colour in honour of the bright hues of Ashoona’s drawings shine through in works such as Quickstop (2021), which

Multiples

39

Tarralik Duffy: The Art of Plenty

depicts two children consuming sweet treats on a staircase leaned up against a blue building, presumably picked up at the local Quickstop.

“My inspiration comes from a need to blow kisses back to Nunavut,” Duffy affectionately explains of the work that honours her home territory.

It is Duffy’s trailblazing and inventive spirit that saw her become the second-ever winner of the Inuit Art Foundation’s Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award (KAMA) in 2021, following Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, who won the inaugural award in 2018. The biennial prize supports the artistic development and career growth of artists and is presented to honour the legacy of iconic Inuit visual artist Kenojuak Ashevak, CC, ONu, RCA (1927–2013). For Duffy, a member of a new generation of Inuit women artists, the award has particular significance. “[Kenojuak Ashevak] is very special to me,” says Duffy of her win. “She definitely helps me on my path to finding my own flow and style of drawing. I used to sit in my room and look at her Enchanted Owl pieces or her different birds. I’ve always had these moments where I felt this presence around me as I was looking at her work. I just love her. So winning that award made me cry, it was incredible.”

Jocelyn Piirainen, Associate Curator, Inuit Art, within the new Indigenous Ways and Decolonization department at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, was one of three KAMA jury members on the panel, alongside Williamson Bathory and journalist Ossie Michelin, who selected the 2021 winner. “Tarralik Duffy’s work—including her writing, drawings, jewellery and more—is incredibly thoughtful, while simultaneously very playful,” Piirainen says of what makes Duffy’s practice stand out.4 “Her work draws from a multitude of places—from her Stacked Cans of Klik series that pays homage to Andy Warhol, to influences from the still life works of Annie Pootoogook (1969–2016) exemplified in Duffy’s recent exhibition, Pop Chip Kukuk. It is clear from her various essays and writing that she has a deep admiration and respect for other Inuit artists and will often lift them up by way of a pen-and-ink drawing.”

As part of her KAMA win, Duffy was awarded a residency at Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq in Manitoba, happening throughout the summer of 2023.

The subsequent exhibition, Tarralik Duffy: Gasoline Rainbows, will open in the gallery on September 22.

“It’s about finding beauty in unexpected places,” she says, explaining the exhibition concept, as well the title, which references the multicoloured slicks of gasoline and oil, from Ski-Doos and jerry cans, often found spilled in small puddles.

“As a child I was mesmerized by gasoline and muddy puddles,” she says. “I would see them around the time my family was getting ready to go camping out on the land as a big caravan.”

Equally mesmerizing is Duffy’s ever-expanding collection of work, which invites viewers to journey alongside her, to stop with her at the store, to wander through the aisles stacked with cans and pick up taquaq before venturing out onto the nuna with her.

ABOVE

Installation view of Let’s Go Quickstop at Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2023 COURTESY INUIT ART FOUNDATION

OPPOSITE

Crosby Molasses 2023 Digital illustration

NOTES 1

2

3

4

All quotes Tarralik Duffy, interview with Emily Laurent Henderson, June 2023.

All quotes John Geoghegan, written correspondence with Emily Laurent Henderson, July 2023.

All references from “In Conversation: Tarralik Duffy and Taqralik Partridge,” interview by Shauna McCabe, Art Gallery of Guelph, January 28, 2022, video, 1:10:14, artgalleryofguelph.ca/exhibition/inuusira.

All quotes Jocelyn Piirainen, written correspondence with Emily Laurent Henderson, July 2023.

Inuit Art Quarterly

— Emily Laurent Henderson is a Kalaaleq (Greenlandic) and Settler writer based in Toronto, ON. Her written work has appeared in publications such as Inuktitut Magazine, C Magazine, Studio Magazine, the Inuit Art Quarterly and others. She is the Curatorial Assistant, Indigenous Art, at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

40

Fall 2023

Multiples

41

Tarralik Duffy: The Art of Plenty

Nunavik Printmaking through the Years: An Illustrated History

—

by Prim Illustrated by Jessica Malegana Translated by Jeela Palluq-Cloutier

Nunavimmi Titiqtuganik Amisuliuqattaqsimaningit Arraagugasannut: Titiqtugarnikkut Atuqtausimajuvinirnik Saqqittiniq

— titiraqtuq Prim Titiqtugaqtuq Jessica Malegana Inuktituuliqtitaujuq uumunga Jeela Palluq-Cloutier

A young Nunavik artist explains how an early Puvirnituq, Nunavik, QC, workshop helped create a family art-making lineage that continues to this day.

Inuit Art Quarterly

Makkuktuq Nunavimmiutaq unikkaaqpuq taissumani Puvirniqtuq, Nunavik, Kupaingmi, ilinniaqtittijuqalauqtillugu ilagiinik titiqtugaqtinnguqtuqalauqsimavuq kinguvaariit ullumimut titiqtugaqtiullutik.

44

Fall 2023

1970 pigialisaarninginni nunalialaarmi Puvirniqtuq, Nunavik, Kupaimmi, titiqtugaqsimajunik amisuliurnirmik ilinniaqtittijuqalauqsimajuq nakituinnaq Nunavingminngaaqtunik ilinniaqtuqaqsuni. Ilinniaqtitautillugit, sanannguaqtit pigganaqtunik sanajjutiqariaqalauqtut titiqturviksarminik: natiksanik atunngingaaqłutik titiqtugarniaqtaminik, ukkusiksangaarnik atuqsutik. Taissumani atuinnauniqsaugaluaqtillugit, ujaqqat qairanngimmata, sanannguaqtit qairaksitittijariaqaqpalauqtut titiqtusigiannginnirminik.

Naammagijaminik amisuliuqsimaaniliraangamik, ukkusiksaq qipuqqaajaulluni atuqtaukkannirnianngimmat.

In the early 1970s in the small Inuit town of Puvirnituq, Nunavik, QC, there was a printmaking workshop that consisted of participants from all over Nunavik. In this workshop, the artists used difficult materials to make the print matrices: instead of using linoleum to carve their designs, they used steatite. Although more accessible during this time, stones aren’t naturally flat, so the carvers had to create a flat surface before beginning their designs. After making the amount of limited prints needed, they’d score lines on the steatite to prevent further use.

Multiples

45

Nunavik Printmaking through the Years

Titiqtugarviksangita asinginnik, titiqtugaqtit atuqtauvaktunik atuqpalaurmijut suurlu sanannguaqtinut amiarutinik, ukkusiksaq amiaqqaaqsugu paippaanga ilinnginningani naqitiqsugulu aluutimut naqitirutimulluunniit taijaujumik Gutenberg Press-mik, naqittijjuti amiarnik paippaamuurittiaruti. Titiqtugaqtit titiqtugaqsimajamingnik niurrutiqalauqput kuapakkutingigut, namulimaaq Kupaimmi niurrutiksauliqsutik ikajuqtaullutik Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau-Québec-kunnut.

Alongside the matrices, the printmakers used familiar materials such as acrylic paint and ink, laying colour on the stone before adding paper and applying pressure with a spoon or a machine called the Gutenberg Press, a mechanical device which allows the ink to be transferred with the necessary amount of pressure. These artists sold their pieces through their local co-op, which distributed them all over Quebec with the aid of the Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau-Québec.

Inuit Art Quarterly

46

Fall 2023

Ilinniaqataulauqsimajuq Puvirniqturmi ilinniaqtillugit atiqalauqtuq Tivi Paningajak (1917–1991), kinguniagut qaujimajauttiaqataulilauqsimajuq titiqtugaliarivaktanginnut qaujimajauqataulluni ukutitunaq Tivi Etok, CQ, amma Leah Qumaluk (1934–2010). Kisiani titiqtugarunnarniq pijunnarnituarilaunngilauk: takumisautiliuqpalauqtuq-ujaminik nagguarminiglu tuugaarnit-sanannguaqpaksuni qulliliuqpaksunilu ukkusiksanit sanavaksunilu angunasuutiminik. Kisutuinnattianik sanajunnalauqtuq.

One of the participants in the Puvirnituq workshop was named Tivi Paningajak (1917–1991), who later became well known for his many prints alongside other artists like Tivi Etok, CQ, and Leah Qumaluk (1934–2010). But his artistic skills were not limited to printmaking: he made jewellery— necklaces and rings made from ivory—sculptures and even qulliit from steatite and his own hunting gear. He created from whatever his mind could imagine.

Multiples

47

Nunavik Printmaking through the Years

Paninga, Mary Paningajak, uqalauqtuq ataatangaguuq aullaaqsimalauqtillugu utiqpalauqsimajuq kuapakkunnut niurrutiksaggiqsuni. Quviagittiaraluaqsunijjuk sananiq, niurrutiqaqpalilauqsimajut amisuliarisimajaminik ilagiit atugaksanginnut: niuviriaqaqsutik aullarutiksanik amma ilagiinut niqitaarutiksanik kaangnaqtillugu.

His daughter, Mary Paningajak, said that when her father went camping he would come back with pieces ready to be sold at the co-op. Beyond the pure joy the artists felt for creating, one of the reasons they started to sell prints was to support their family fi nancially: to purchase hunting supplies and to provide food for their children during famine.

Inuit Art Quarterly

48

Fall 2023

1970 aniguqsimajutuqauliqtillugu, titiqtugarnik amisuliuqtausimajut pijaujumaluarunniilauqsimajut. Kisiani immattiaq, Makivikkut, Kativik ilisarnilirinikkut asingillu katujjiqatigiit ilinniaqtittiqattakkannililauqtut titiqtugaqsimajunik amisuliurnirmik Nunavimmi, ilinniariaqtuqaqsuni ukuninga Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk, Louisa Kanarjuak (1945–2022) amma Passa Mangiuk. Ilinniaqtittijuqarniqsauvaktillugu, inuit pijumaniqsauliqpaktut, ukiungit makkuktunit inutuqarnut ajjigiinnginniqaqsutik.

In the decades after the 1970s, printmaking became less popular. But not that long ago, the Makivik Corporation, Kativik Ilisarniliriniq and other organizations started to hold printmaking workshops in Nunavik again, attracting artists like Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk, Louisa Kanarjuak (1945–2022) and Passa Mangiuk to the medium. The more workshops there are, the more Inuit are interested, ranging in age from teenagers to Elders.

Multiples

49

Nunavik Printmaking through the Years

Mary Paningajak is one of these printmakers, now a well-known artist herself. Before her artistic career started, she was a teacher who drew in her free time. She decided to pursue art after seeing how positively other people reacted to her artwork.

Inuit Art Quarterly

Mary Paningajak titiqtugaqsimajunik amisuliuqtiuqataujuq, maannalu ilisariumajauttialiqsuni. Titiqtugaqtinngulauqtinnagu, ilisaijiulauqsimajuq piviqaliraangamilu titiqtugaqpaksuni. Titiqtugaqtinngurumalilauqsimajuq ujjiriqattalirami inuit titiraujaqtanginnik piuksaqattaqtut.

50

Fall 2023

Arraagugasangnut sanannguaqtiunirmut ilinniaqattalauqsimajuq pijunnaqsivaallirumalluni, ilinniarluni titiraujarnirmik, ukittainirmik, qijungnik uutainirmik amma titiqtugaqsimajunik amisuliurnirmik. Titiqtugaqsimajani niurrutigivalilauqtangit ilisaijinut, amma niurrujaraangami Kangiqsujuarmut, Nunavik, Kupaimmi, amma Ivujivik, Nunavik, Kupaimmi, niurrutiksaggiqpalauqtuq.

For years she attended art classes and workshops to help her expand her artistic skills, learning sketching, stencilling, wood burning and printmaking. She started to sell her prints to teachers, and when she visited the towns of Kangiqsujuaq, Nunavik, QC, and Ivujivik, Nunavik, QC, she brought her pieces there to be sold.

Multiples

51

Nunavik Printmaking through the Years

Mary sanannguaqtinngulirninga sivullirmi pigganalauqtuq; titiqtugaqpalilaurmat tukurluarnaqtunik imminik atuqtaminik aniguijunnautigillunigit. Ilaliujjisimavaliqtuq inuusirmi atuqsimajaminik, inuit atuqsimajanginnik iliqqusinginniglu amma inuusirmini quviagijanginnik titiqtugaqtanginni. Uqalauqtuq amisuliuqattarniq imminut ikajuutiqaqsimajuq inuusirminut titiqtugaqtiunirminullu, titiqtuganginni tammaraluaraangami pittiannginniraluaraangamilu naammagijunnarlugit namulimaakkannirlu siammaktillugit. Arraagut 50 aniguqtuni, titiqtugaqsimajunik amisuliurniq nunavingmiunik titiqtugaqtinik kasurutausimavuq inuuninginnut iliqqusinginnullu saqqitillunijjuglu, kiinaujaliurunnautigillunijjuk pijunnarnirminiglu saqqitittijunnautigillunijjuk. Titiqtugaqsimajunik amisuliuqtit Mary Paningajak tamatuminga kajusitittisimajut, isumasinginnik saqqittillutik kasurutiqakkanniqłutiglu atuqtausimajuvinirnik titiqtugarnikkut sanannguarnikkullu.

Mary’s path as an artist wasn’t easy at first; she began putting sensitive topics in her prints as a method to help her cope. She now incorporates her life experiences, Inuit history and culture and what she enjoys in life into her pieces. She says that making prints helped her as a person and as an artist, teaching her to accept the flaws and errors that occur in the prints and also in the wider world. Over the last 50 years, printmaking has offered a way for Nunavik artists to connect with and present their Inuit identity and culture, providing both financial resources and an outlet for their creativity. Printmakers like Mary Paningajak continue the tradition, expressing their points of view and renewing their connection to history through images and art.

— Prim (Pasa Mangiok) is a visual artist from Ivujivik, Nunavik, QC, whose practice includes painting, printmaking, digital art and sculpture.

— Prim (Pasa Mangiok) sanannguaqtiujuq Ivujivingmit, Nunavik, Kupaingmit, amiaqpakłuni, titiqtugaqpakłuni amisuliarijaksanik, qarasaujakkut sanavakłuni sanannguagarniglu sanavakłuni.

— Jessica Malegana is a multimedia artist from the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT. She creates illustrations that speak to her cultural heritage using a mix of pencil crayon, watercolour and ink.

— Jessica Malegana qarasaujakkut sanannguaqtiujuq Inuvialuit Nunangannit, Nunatsiarmi. Sanannguaqpaktuq iliqqusimininngaaqtunik saqqittivakłuni titirautitigut, amiarutitigut imaliktigullu.

This Feature was originally published at IAQ Online.

It is made possible through support from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Inuit Art Quarterly

52

Taanna uqalimaagaliaq saqqitauqqaalauqtuq Sanannguaqtit uqalimaagalianganni ikiaqqivikkut. Pijunnaqsititausimajuq ikajuqtaullutik Kanatami Sanannguaqtilirijikkunnut.

Fall 2023

The Printmakers behind the Story The IAQ examines some of the Nunavik artists that made prints happen

Tivi Etok LEFT

Tivi Etok — Bird Trying to Catch Fish 1979 Stonecut 42 × 51 cm COURTESY AVATAQ CULTURAL INSTITUTE PHOTO MARIE-CHRISTINE COUTURE ALL © THE ARTIST

SAUMIANIITTUQ

Tivi Etok — Tingmiaq Iqalugasuktuq 1979 Sanannguagaksarmut ukittaqtausimajuq 42 × 51 cm AJJINNGUAQ AVATAKKUT ILIQQUSILIRIJIKKUNNIT AJJINNGUAQ MARIE-CHRISTINE COUTURE-MIT TAMARMIK © SANANNGUAQTIT

Titiraujagarnik amisuliuqti titiqtugaqtiullunilu Tivi Etok, CQ, inuulauqtuq Qirnituaqturmi, Nunavik, Kupaingmi.

1959-mi ilagiit nuutaulauqsimajut Kangiqsualujjuarmut, Nunavik, Kupaingmi, taikani suli nunaqaqłuni iqqanaijaqłunilu innaqtarijaulluni nunalingni. 1972-mi, sanannguaqtinik ilinniaqataulauqsimajuq sivulliqpaarmi pinasuarusirnut 7-nut titiqtugarnik amisuliurnirmut ilinniaqtittitillugit Puvirniqturmi, Nunavik, Kupaingmi.

Utirami Kangiqsualujjuarmut, Etok aaqqiksilauqsimajuq titiqtugarnik amisuliuriviksamik sanannguagaksamut ukittaiqattaliqłuni ningaungata, Peter Morgan ikajuqłuniuk.

Etok qaujimajauttiaqtuq sivulliqpaulluni inuulluni titiqtugaqtiulluni amisuliarijaksanik immituaq titiqtugaliarisimajanginnik saqqittisimalluni, piliriarisimajangillu nuatausimallutik saqqijaaqtitauvakłutik nanituinnaq nunarjuarmi suurlu ruijul aantiuriu takujagaqarvinganni Toronto, Ontariomi, Metropolitan Sanaugarnik Takujagaqarvinganni, New York-mi, amma Kanatami Atuqtausimajuvinirnut Takujagaqarvinganni Gaatinuu, Kupaingmi. 2008-mi, titirausiusimalauqtuq taimatigut uqausikkut uvani Tivi Ituup Inuusinga, titiraqtaulluni Jobie Weetaluktuk Robyn Bryant-lu. Etok ukununga ilaulilauqtuq Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec 2022-ngutillugu.

Printmaker and graphic artist Tivi Etok, CQ, was born in Qirnituartuq, Nunavik, QC. In 1959 his family was relocated to the nearby Kangiqsualujjuaq, Nunavik, QC, where he still lives and works today as an Elder in his community. In 1972, he was one of the artists included in the original seven-week printmaking workshop in Puvirnituq, Nunavik, QC. Upon his return to Kangiqsualujjuaq, Etok established a printshop and began making stonecuts with the help of his son-in-law Peter Morgan. Etok is well known as the fi rst Inuk printmaker to have a solo print collection released, and his work has been shown and collected across the world in places like the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, ON, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, New York, and the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, QC. In 2008, he was the subject of the trilingual biography The World of Tivi Etok, by Jobie Weetaluktuk and Robyn Bryant. Etok became a member of the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec in 2022.

Multiples

53

Nunavik Printmaking through the Years

Tivi Paningajak Qaujimajaulluni amisunik sanajjusiqaurunnarninganut, Tivi Paningajak (1917–1991) taissumani titiqtugaqtituangulauqsimajuq amisuliuqattaqłuni Ivujivik, Nunavik, Kupaingmi, taimannganit asinginnik titiqtugaqtitaqaqpaliqtuq. Paningajak sanannguagangit amma sanannguagaksanut ukittaqsimajut amisuliarisimajangit inuit nirjutinngunnguaqtut nirjutilluunniit inunngunnguaqtut, unikkaaqtuaninngaaqtut angakkut miksaanut amma angunasunnguaqtut inuunasuarutinut. Qaujimajaulluni titiqtugaqpaktanginnik inunnguanik nirjutinnguaniglu, Paningajak amisuliarisimajangit sanannguattiaqsimavakłutik kisunnguanik amma kiinanngualiuqsimavakłutik. Piliriarisimajangit saqqitauqattaqsimajut Kupaip Ukiuqtaqtunganni amisuliarijausimajunut tikisaaksani saqqitausimajuni 1972 amma 1975 akunninginni, takujagaliangusimajunillu piliriangit saqqitausimallutik Winnipeg Sanaugarnut Takujagaqarvinganni Qaumajurmi Manitoba-mi ammalu Maannalisarnik Sanannguagarnik Takujagaqarvingmi Rome, Italimi. Ullumi, piliriarisimajangit nanituinnaq Kanatami takujaksauvaktut—aglaat Avatakkunni Manturia, Kupaingmi, Kanatami Atuqtausimajuvinirnik Takujagaqarvingmi Gaatinuumi, amma Kanatami Takujagaqarvingmi Aatuvaa, Aantiuriumi.

Known for his embrace of many materials, Tivi Paningajak (1917–1991) was—at one point—the only artist producing prints in his community of Ivujivik, Nunavik, QC, though the practice has grown since. Paningajak’s stone sculptures and stonecut prints often depict human-animal transformations, legends of shamans and scenes of everyday hunting and subsistence. Known for his bold, graphic and elegant depictions of human and animal life, Paningajak’s prints regularly include rhythmic patterning of the figures and animated facial expressions. His work was included in several of the Arctic Quebec Prints catalogues released between 1972 and 1975, and has been featured in exhibitions at places like the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq in Manitoba and the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, Italy. Today, his work is held in many public collections across Canada—including the Avataq Cultural Institute in Montreal, QC, the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, QC, and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, ON.

LEFT

Tivi Paningajak — Hunters of the Eagle 1972 Stonecut 45.7 × 55.9 cm COURTESY AVATAQ CULTURAL INSTITUTE PHOTO NORMAN BLOUIN

SAUMIANIITTUQ

Tivi Paningajak — Nakturaligasuktut 1972 Sanannguagaksarmut ukittaqtausimajuq 45.7 × 55.9 cm AJJINNGUAQ AVATAKKUT ILIQQUSILIRIJIKKUNNIT AJJINNGUAQ NORMAND BLOUIN-MIT

Inuit Art Quarterly

54

Fall 2023

Louisa Kanarjuak LEFT

Louisa Kanarjuak — Inuit Traditional Survival Tools I 2021 Monotype and linocut 35.6 × 29.2 cm COURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS

SAUMIANIITTUQ

Louisa Kanarjuak — Inuit Igirrutingit I 2021 Qairaktukkuuqtausimajut amma natiksaujakkut 35.6 × 29.2 cm AJJINNGUAQ FEHELEY SANAUGAQARVINGMIT

Louisa Kanarjuak (1945–2022) titiqtugaqtiulauqtuq Ivujivingmiutaulluni. Qaujimajaujuq titiqtugaqpaktanginnut amisuliarivaktanginnullu, angunasunnguaqtunik iqalugasunnguaqtuniglu, angunasuutigijauvaktuniglu niqiksanut. Ukununga Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk, Passa Mangiuk amma Lyne Bastien, Kanarjuak ilagijauqataulauqtuq Ivujivingmi Piliriaqaqatigiinut. Piliriaqaqatigiikłutik natiksaujakkut qairaktukkullu amisuliugaksaliuqsimallutik—una saqqitausimajuq piqasiutillugu—saqqijaaqtitausimajut Ivujivingminngaaqtut takujagaliangujumi Feheley Fine Arts-kunni Turaantumi 2021-ngutillugu. Sanannguaqtiuliqqaaqtinnagu, Kanarjuak inngiqtiulauqtuq qallunaatut inuktullu inngiqpakłuni, inngilauqsimalluni 2017-mi Aqpikkut nijjausijaqtittitillugit amma katajjaqłuni nipiliuqtauqatausimalluni nipiliuqsimajumik uqalimaagarmi L’inugagullirq (2023).

Louisa Kanarjuak (1945–2022) was a graphic artist based in Ivujivik. She is best known for her drawings and prints, which often depict hunting and fishing scenes, as well as implements used in harvesting traditional foods. Alongside Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk, Passa Mangiuk and Lyne Bastien, Kanarjuak was a member of the Ivujivik Collective. Their collaborative linocut and monotype prints—including the ones shown here—were presented in The Ivujivik Collective exhibition at Feheley Fine Arts in Toronto in 2021. Beyond her visual practice, Kanarjuak was a singer who performed in English and Inuktitut, notably singing during the 2017 Aqpik Jam Music Festival and accompanying the children’s audiobook L’inugagullirq (2023) with throat singing.

Multiples

55

Nunavik Printmaking through the Years

Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk LEFT

Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk — Passed and Present XV 2021 Monotype and linocut 35.6 × 29.2 cm COURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS

SAUMIANIITTUQ

Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk — Taissumani Maannalu XV 2021 Qairaktukkuuqtausimajut amma natiksaujakkut 35.6 × 29.2 cm AJJINNGUAQ FEHELEY SANAUGAQARVINGMIT

Ivujivingmiutaq Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk titiraujaqattasigialauqsimajuq amiarivaliqłunilu nutaraulluni innaruramilu sanannguaqtimmariuliqłuni. Uqaqsimajuq amiarnirmut ilinniaqtitautillugit Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, Kupaingmi, piliriaminut utilauqsimaninganik, amma natiksajakkut ukittainikkut amisuliurnirmik ilinniaqtittitillugit Ivujivingmi 2018-ngutillugu piliriarivaktaminik ilagiaqsililauqtuq, kinguniagullu ivijivingmi katimajiqaliqłutik, piliriaqaqatigiikłutik amisuliarisimajangit nanituinnaq takujaksaullutik.

Iyaituk qaujimajaujjutiqaqtuq titiraqtugaqsimajanginnik nunannguanik, kisutuinnarniglu ilisarnaqtunik amma angunasunnguaqtunik. Iyaituk ilisaijiulauqsimaninganut tunngaviliurunnaqsilauqpuq sanaugarisimajanginnik— asinginnik uqalimaagaliuqtinik, sanannguaqtinik, titiraqtiniglu inungnik qallunaaniglu ilinniaqtinik— sanaqatiqaqłuni nutaqqanut uqalimaagaksanik Nunavingmi inuit unikkaanginninngaaqtunik.

Arviqtaqattaqsimajuq ilinniaqtittijaqtuqłuni titiraqtiullunilu titiqtugaqtiulluni amisunik uqalimaagarnik Nunavingmi Saqqitauvaktunik.

Ivujivik artist Qumaq Mangiuk Iyaituk began drawing and painting as a young child and returned to creating artwork as a professional artist in adulthood. She cites an acrylic painting workshop in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, QC, as a launchpad that returned her to her practice, and a linocut printing workshop in Ivujivik in 2018 as a recent opportunity to expand her work, which later led to the formation of the Ivujivik Collective, whose collaborative prints have been shown widely. Iyaituk is known for her portrayals of landscapes, favouring familial subject matter as well as hunting scenes. Iyaituk’s background as an educator laid the groundwork for a series of collaborations—with other authors, artists, writers and both Inuit and non-Inuit students—to create children’s books based on Inuit stories from Nunavik. She has travelled throughout the region to facilitate workshops and is also the author and illustrator of multiple storybooks released by Nunavik Publications.

Inuit Art Quarterly

56

Fall 2023

Mary Paningajak Nutaraulluni, ajjigiinngittutigut sanannguaqti Mary Paningajak pijunnaqsivallialilauqsimajuq tautukpakłuniuk ataatani, Tivi Paningajak, amisuliugaksaliuqtillugu sanannguaqtillugulu, innauliqłunilu sanannguaqtinnguliqłuni ilinniaqatauvakłuni, amma 2012-ngutillugu Manturiami titiqtuganik amisuliuqattarnikkut nangminiqsulikkanniqłuni. Ujjirnallariktut piliriariqattaqsimajangit nunagijanganninngaaqsimajut. Tamakkua piliriaksat sanannguarnikkut amisutigut—titiraujarnikkut qanuq nuvagjuarnaq 19 aktuiniqaqsimangmangaat, uqalimaagarnik titiraqtugaqtiulluni amiarnikkut, amma niksiktarnikkut takuminaqsautiliurnikkullu— inuit atuqpaksimajanginninngaaqłutik iliqqusinginnillu.

Kiggaqtuqtiulluni inungnut sanannguaqtinut nunalingnullu, Paningajak Ivujivingmi maijagijaulauqpuq 2017-18-mi, amma sanannguaqtiulluni katimajiuqataujuq ukununga Collectif des arts et des cultures des Peuples autochtones, katimajiulisaalauqtut nunaqaqqaaqsimajunut kiggaqtuijiullutik Kupaingmi. Paningajak piliriaqaqataulaurmijuq ukununga Convergence North/South (2018) Feheley Fine Arts-mi Turaantumi; natiksajakkut ukittailluni sanasimajangit ilaliujjausimajut uvani 5 Works tagvani uqalimaagaliattinni.

As a young child, multidisciplinary artist Mary Paningajak developed her practice while observing her father, Tivi Paningajak, make prints and carvings, and furthered her artistic career in adulthood by participating in numerous Nunavik art workshops, as well as a 2012 printmaking residency in Montreal that boosted her independent practice. Her bold and vivid works often draw from her community’s history. These projects make use of artistic experimentation in many media—ranging from drawings illustrating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, to storybook illustrations employing pointillist techniques, to crochet and jewellery—while rooting themselves in Inuit history and culture. An advocate for Inuit artists and communities, Paningajak was Ivujivik’s mayor from 2017–18, and is an artist representative in Collectif des arts et des cultures des Peuples autochtones, a newly formed collective advocating for Indigenous culture in Quebec.

Paningajak also participated in the collaborative exhibition Convergence North/South (2018) at Feheley Fine Arts in Toronto; the linocut panel she produced is included in the 5 Works section of this issue.

LEFT

Mary Paningajak — Arctic Living IV 2018 Linocut and chine collé 27.9 × 27.9 cm COURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS

SAUMIANIITTUQ

Mary Paningajak — Ukiuqtaqturmiutauniq IV 2018 Natiksaujarmut ukittaqtausimajuq quliriingnik amiaqtausimalluni 27.9 × 27.9 cm AJJINNGUAQ FEHELEY SANAUGAQARVINGMIT

Multiples

57

Nunavik Printmaking through the Years

PL AYING

with

the

PAST —

by Mosha Folger

Beyond the rousing musical and theatrical performances, the inspiring political messages behind the Inuit Circumpolar Jam 1983 still resonate today.

Inuit Art Quarterly

60

Fall 2023

In the summer of 1983, Inuit musicians, theatre groups and other performers from Canada, Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) and Alaska descended on my hometown of Iqaluit, NU (what was then called Frobisher Bay, NT).

They came together to exchange ideas and to share their individual traditions and skills with each other and the world. As a performer and filmmaker who has kept Inuit societal issues at the forefront of my own work, this meeting of artists, dubbed ICC Jam 1983, has always been an inspiration to me.

ICC Jam 1983 was held as part of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference’s (ICC; now Inuit Circumpolar Council) third General Assembly.

The theme of this conference was: The Arctic – Our Common Responsibility. It was the first time the political conference was held in Canada.

Artists and musicians have always been part of the vanguard of political movements and social change, and the inclusion of ICC Jam 1983 at the General Assembly was no accident. Inuit policy and issues are intrinsically tied to Inuit culture, and several of the artists at ICC Jam 1983 would go on to have careers in politics as well.

Per Berthelsen, born in Qeqertarsuaq, Kalaallit

Multiples

Nunaat, would be elected to the municipal council in Nuuk, Kalaallit Nunaat, and the Inatsisartut, the national parliament, in 1993, and would go on to found the Demokraatit Party in 2002.

Iqaluit residents were treated to a variety of modern and time-honoured Inuit performances, ranging from live music and theatre to throat singing, and even a traditional qajaq demonstration. The festivities were captured for television by a combination of crews from the Nunatsiakmiut Film Society—a local group that produced a weekly program in Inuktitut, and that was run, at the time, by my late father Edward)—and from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Toronto, ON, studio. A 30-minute television program of highlights from the event was shown as part of Nunatsiakmiut, the film society’s weekly timeslot broadcast on CBC TV’s Northern Service.

My father uploaded the Inuit Circumpolar Jam, in three parts, to his YouTube channel in 2007. I recently watched it again for the first time since 2015—the year I sampled a couple of the artist interviews for hip-hop songs I released.

In watching the videos again, I realized I wasn’t

61

PREVIOUS

A Chevak Dancer from Alaska performing at ICC Jam 1983, Iqaluit ALL COURTESY ICC CANADA

OPPOSITE

Pouvungnituk Throat Singers Lucy Amarualik, Mary Sivuarapik and Alacie Tullaugaq performing at ICC Jam 1983, Iqaluit ABOVE

Point Hope Dancers performing at ICC Jam 1983, Iqaluit

Playing with the Past

ABOVE (TOP)

OPPOSITE (LEFT)

Nunavik musician William Tagoona performing at ICC Jam 1983, Iqaluit

Point Hope Dancers performing at ICC Jam 1983, Iqaluit

ABOVE (BOTTOM)

Chevak Dancers from Alaska performing at ICC Jam 1983, Iqaluit

George Kakayuk and the Salluit, Nunavik, QC, band Sugluk performing at ICC Jam 1983, Iqaluit

Inuit Art Quarterly

the first Folger to sample from the show. I recognized audio sections that my father had used in some of his later video work and in other Nunatsiakmiut Film Society productions from the 1980s. In a Nunatsiakmiut episode called “Daydreams,” one in which my father played a masked spirit/alien, the opening music is traditional Kalaallisut singing and drumming recorded as part of ICC Jam 1983.

An important aspect of the presentations at ICC Jam 1983 were historic Inuit practices. The music and theatre performances were held on the stage in the gym at the Gordon Robertson Education Centre (now the Inuksuk High School), but Kalaaleq kayaker Manasse Mathaussen demonstrated his skills in a sealskin qajaq on a small lake along the road to Niaqunngut (Apex), NU, a small satellite community of Iqaluit that was the original location of the Hudson’s Bay Company store. Wearing his tuilik, a traditional Kalaallisut waterproof jacket, Mathaussen wowed the crowd gathered around the lake with his paddling and qajaq-rolling abilities. On the shore of the lake, singer and drummer Ajako Miteq, the Kalaaleq performer whose music my father used in “Daydreams,” entertained the crowd with his songs and drum dance using a frame drum called a qilaat.

The late Ernest Frankson (1946–2016), born in Tikiġaq (Point Hope), Alaska, was an Iñupiaq storyteller and member of the Point Hope Dancers. He performed a variety of high-energy Iñupiat dance songs at ICC Jam 1983. In one of my favourite sections of the television broadcast, owing to Frankson’s telegenic personality and his descriptions of how people “travelled” as animals, he described the shamanistic origins of some of the songs he performed.

“Some of these songs that we do, we had learned from the animals themselves. . . . A lot of our people in the earlier days travelled out of their bodies and in their travels they are sometimes

OPPOSITE (RIGHT)

62

Fall 2023

taken away by the animals, like the walruses or the whales, and they teach us the way they live,” Frankson explained.1 “Like a whale taking away one of our people in Point Hope, his name was Katuķ. He continually travelled away, left his body and travelled,” he said. “He was given one of their parkas, he put it on. You know, he was himself, and when he looked at himself, he was a whale. And so they took him for the entire season and taught him the way they live.”

Nunavik throat singers Lucy Amarualik (1934–2005), Mary Sivuarapik and Alacie Tullaugaq, who travelled to Iqaluit from Puvirnituq, Nunavik, QC, performed traditional throat songs at ICC Jam 1983. The trio also went with the television crew to Sylvia Grinnell River, where they were recorded singing in front of the waterfalls that are a major attraction of the territorial park of the same name.

Apart from the performances, the third General Assembly of the ICC recognized the importance of preserving traditions such as throat singing, and the need to protect the integrity of Inuit art as a whole within Canada. In a resolution passed by the ICC during the third General Assembly, they echoed an Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (now Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami) resolution, “calling on the Government of Canada to introduce immediate legislation to protect Inuit cultural heritage and the integrity of Inuit art.” 2 Katajjaq, Inuit throat singing, was granted special cultural heritage status by the Government of Quebec in 2014 but, unlike in the United States, Canada has yet to pass legislation protecting artists from inauthentic works being presented as real work from Indigenous artists.

ICC Jam 1983 featured several collaborations between artists from across Inuit Nunaat, including a song written especially for the event. “The ICC Song,” an upbeat acoustic-guitar song performed by Kalaaleq rocker, teacher and politician Per Berthelsen, accompanied by Nunavik musician William Tagoona, has a melody written by Yup’ik singer-songwriter John Angaiak.

“I have tried to make [Inuktitut] words to it, and I hope you’ll understand some of the words. At least I tried my best,” Berthelsen said before performing the song.3 Tagoona responded, “Oh, we will, we will,” as the two guitarists launched into the song about the joy of performing for Inuit in Canada.

Multiples

One musician at the event spent nearly 50 years bringing joy to Inuit in Canada and people around the world. The late Charlie Panigoniak, ONu (1946–2019), who was born in what is now the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, started recording music in the early 1970s, and in 2012 was awarded the Order of Nunavut, the territory’s highest honour.

Panigoniak and his long-time partner and collaborator, Lorna Panigoniak, née Tasseor, performed their signature folk-gospel music for an adoring crowd at ICC Jam 1983. During the Nunatsiakmiut episode they are heard collaborating with Norman Ishulutak and Noah Nauyuk, members of the Iqaluit-based band Uvagut. The group plays a rocking rendition of “A New Touch of Fire,” a gospel song written in 1912 by American Methodist hymn-writer Lelia N. Morris. In a bit of television magic, the editors (my father and Mickey Turqtuq) took footage from the event and from rehearsals, as well as from Panigoniak and Tasseor’s duet stage performance, and spliced together a quasi-music video; the footage of Panigoniak and Tasseor cut seamlessly over an audio recording from a rehearsal session.

Uvagut, from the Qikiqtaaluk region of Nunavut, have been a staple of the Iqaluit music scene since they were formed in 1978. Ishulutak, the lead guitarist, and Nauyuk, the band’s bassist, can be heard playing one of their tracks, a melodic electric guitar and bass rock tune, over the beginning of the television broadcast as shots of airplanes and people arriving at the Frobisher Bay Airport (now the Iqaluit International Airport) flash across the screen. Nearly 500 people, including ICC delegates, politicians, media crews, artists and more, arrived at Iqaluit that day, which at the time had a population of about 2,500.

“With music, and radio and TV, there’s many people who hear it at the same time. And your messages can come out to many people at the same time. And many people can hear it and understand it and talk about it,” Juaaka Lyberth, a musician born in Uummannaq, Kalaallit Nunaat, said in an interview with the television crew.4 Inuit unity was one of the prevailing themes of the work presented by the artists at ICC Jam 1983. The Inuit Circumpolar Conference as a whole, and the various performers at the event, were keenly aware of the lack of representation from a significant group of circumpolar

63

Playing with the Past

Indigenous peoples. At the conference, an empty chair served to remind the delegates and guests of the absence of a Russian delegation. The Soviet government would not allow Siberian Yupik or Chukchi to attend an ICC General Assembly until 1989, and both groups did not become full members until 1992. In their theatre performance, Kalaallisut-Danish group Tûkak Teatret (now Tuukkaq Teatret) included a poignant soliloquy delivered

by Kalaaleq actress Makka Kleist.

“A piece of glass is shattered when hit by a stone. A life might be destroyed when hit,” Kleist said.5 “People at war. I no longer know this world. What do they want? Could life again be free?

Yes. People everywhere, people who want peace, let us unite and fight together.”

Forty years later, her words remain a stark reflection of the current international climate given that athletes from the Yamalo-Nenets region of Russia were not permitted to attend the 2023 Arctic Winter Games in Wood Buffalo, AB, due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. My oldest daughter, who lives in Toronto, is Nenets. For her family’s sake, for the sake of all circumpolar Indigenous peoples in Russia’s far east, and all Ukrainians and Russians, I hope Kleist’s message is heeded, and that world leaders can unite for peace.

BELOW

Point Hope Drummers performing at ICC Jam 1983, Iqaluit OPPOSITE (TOP & BOTTOM)

NIPI Choir from Kalaallit Nunaat performing at ICC Jam 1983, Iqaluit

NOTES 1

2

3

— Mosha Folger is an Inuk writer and editor from Iqaluit. He has also performed poetry, hip-hop, and made short films. He has two beautiful daughters and is currently living in Nanaimo, BC.

Inuit Art Quarterly

4 5

64

“ICC Jam - part 3 - Alaska,” Edward Folger, 1983, video, 9:37, March 23, 2007, youtube.com/ watch?v=CIPoFMp_qH0.

“ICC Resolutions – 1983,” Eben Hopson Memorial Archives, accessed August 14, 2023, ebenhopson. com/icc-resolutions-1983.

“ICC Jam - part 1 - Canada,” Edward Folger, 1983, video, 9:28, March 23, 2007, youtube.com/ watch?v=oVNNgLeHJVk. Ibid.

“ICC Jam - part 2 - Greenland,” Edward Folger, 1983, video, 8:08, March 23, 2007, youtube.com/ watch?v=TRBGKv913Cs.

Fall 2023

Multiples

65

Playing with the Past

Inuit Art Quarterly

66

Fall 2023

DORSET FINE ART

FINAL PRINTS EDITION Come discover these mesmerizing pieces

1356 Sherbrooke St. W. Montreal (QC) H3G 1J1 laguilde.com

Works by Mayoreak Ashoona, Qavavau Manumie et Ningiukulu Teevee.

Follow us @LaGuildeMTL

Wholesaling Inuit art since 1967

Lucassie Echalook

lvy wvl

“This man got an otter and is joyful.

Otters are rarely caught because they dwell in rivers and are hard to hunt."

bN Xusgg[i xoxog bfx wMixl W/sh fuhAmb xJNh riExu

19950 Clark Graham Ave. Baie-D’Urfé, QC H9X 3R8

514-457-9371 www.artnunavik.ca

Multiples

67

Back

CURATORIAL NOTES

Anaanatta Unikkaangit (Our Mother’s Stories) Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq MAY 19–NOVEMBER 12, 2023 WINNIPEG, MB

Content note: This article contains a brief mention of residential schools.

Anaanatta Unikkaangit (Our Mother’s Stories), which opened this spring at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)-Qaumajuq and runs until November 12, is the first-ever exhibition of works by the finalists for the Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award. The biennial prize was established by the Inuit Art Foundation in 2014 by generous members of the Inuit art community to honour the life and work of the late Kenojuak Ashevak, CC, ONu, RCA (1927–2013). With the partnership of WAG-Qaumajuq and support of RBC Emerging Artists, the award celebrates contemporary artists by facilitating opportunities for artistic development and career growth. The 2023 winner will be announced in September and receive $20,000, a solo exhibition in 2025, as well as a dedicated residency, catalogue and an acquisition.

Maureen Gruben, Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona, Kablusiak and Ningiukulu Teevee. “I wanted the artists’ practices to be the focus of the show,” Redhead says, describing her curatorial approach.

“I wanted their voices. I wanted them to be really involved in which artworks would be shown.”

Here, Redhead speaks with the Inuit Art Quarterly about the resulting exhibition, which offers a glimpse into the practices of the five shortlisted artists and the stories that inspire and inform them.

Beyond celebrating the five shortlisted artists, Anaanatta Unikkaangit (Our Mother’s Stories) also brings their work together to share space, drawing connections between common themes and influences: intergenerational knowledge, material practices, advocacy and remembrance. Curated by Marie-Anne Redhead, WAG-Qaumajuq’s Assistant Curator of Indigenous and Contemporary Art, the show traverses artistic practices and territories, featuring the broad-ranging and ambitious work of nominees Billy Gauthier,

Inuit Art Quarterly

68

Fall 2023

CURATORIAL NOTES

Can you tell us about the title for the show?

One common thread between the artworks is some aspect of femininity or the idea of a mother—even referring to the land as a mother. The title also references Kenojuak Ashevak as an influential figure. The idea of stories was important. They say so much about who you are: stories are about you, your community and your people. Was there anything that surprised you about the curatorial process? When you’re working with things in your head, it’s so abstract.

You don’t know how it will feel until it comes together in the room. The show is a lot more colourful than I expected. It is very vibrant and celebratory but also

encompasses this notion of honouring, with moments that are more sombre or reflective. I found it so beautiful that it looks so joyful. Were there teachings or principles that you wanted to bring into the show? It’s important for me to position myself in relation to a project I’m working on and to take into account my experiences, influences and identity. I’m Cree and my people come from around the Hudson Bay. One of the principles going into curating this show was about being in good relation with the Inuit community and with the artists—listening to them and thanking them, respecting them, honouring them for everything that has been imparted to

me as a result of working on this exhibition.

I am trying to foster reciprocity. How do you hope that people might feel after seeing the show? For each artist, I wanted to show something that’s exemplary of their practice, something recognizable— something that shows why they’re on the shortlist for this award. I hope that people feel inspired, excited and curious about these artists. I hope they feel the excitement that I had going into it and the excitement that the artists have.

I hope they feel that love—for each other, for their families, for the land, for their cultures and languages.

Billy Gauthier Newfoundland-based sculptor Billy Gauthier’s admiration for his materials and attention to his subjects are readily apparent. In Shaman Drummer (2008) the artist captures the shaman’s fluid motions mid-drum-dance, while in Sedna’s Tears (2008), the cascading hair of the sculpture becomes a wave that both depicts the water goddess’ story, and attests to the interdependence of humans, land and waters. “I had found an APTN article where Billy was talking about the land,” Redhead describes, “and referring to it as ‘mother.’ That was such a beautiful way to inform his practice. I am so moved when I look at his carvings. You can tell there is so much respect when you look at them.”

“I think a lot of people might not really understand the connection I have to the materials I use. I feel like I almost owe them as much as I possibly can give: as much energy, as much work, as much time.

And most of them are from nature, which is so important to me. I feel really deeply connected to them.” 1

OPPOSITE

Installation view of Anaanatta Unikkaangit (Our Mother’s Stories)

BILLY GAUTHIER

ALL COURTESY WAG-QAUMAJUQ ALL © THE ARTIST

Multiples

69

ABOVE

Billy Gauthier — Sedna’s Tears 2008 Serpentinite, labradorite and slate 32 × 30.5 × 6.5 cm

Back

CURATORIAL NOTES

Maureen Gruben

“I love mixing traditional and industrial materials because that’s the world that we live in today.

There’s so much man-made material, but it’s also an aesthetic thing for me.” 2

In Inuvialuk multimedia artist Maureen Gruben’s work, land-based knowledges are shaped, translated and encased by traditionally harvested and human-made materials. “Tiktalik (2023) is a mixed-media series of pages containing transcriptions of oral stories by Susie Tiktalik and muskox mittens,” Redhead describes.

“Tiktalik, in Maureen Gruben’s own words, is one of the last female nomads of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, and the stories are about her life living on the land, following the caribou. That the stories and mittens made from land-based materials are wrapped in plastic is both characteristic of Maureen’s work, while also evocative of an urgency to protect or preserve these stories.”

Inuit Art Quarterly

MAUREEN GRUBEN

70

Fall 2023

CURATORIAL NOTES

Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona Ottawa, ON–based Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona’s works are staged to highlight the playful graphic approaches she’s taken to highlight her family’s stories across ceramics, collage and printmaking.

“I wanted the way the work was displayed to feel natural and alive. I am trying to move away from using plinths in my curatorial practice because they often act as a symbol of conquest,” says Redhead.

“For Gayle Kabloona’s work, I wanted to capture the idea of feeling at home, like visiting your grandmother. Gayle does a lot of graphic design and illustrations, so I said, “Let’s get a wallpaper in there!”

“When my work goes out in the world, I really feel the connection with other people. I’m pouring myself into the piece and then if it resonates with somebody else, I already know that we’re operating on the same wavelength.” 3 GAYLE UYAGAQI KABLOONA

OPPOSITE (TOP) & RIGHT (TOP)

Installation views of Anaanatta Unikkaangit (Our Mother’s Stories) OPPOSITE (BOTTOM)

Maureen Gruben — Tiktalik (detail) 2023 Muskox wool, muskox horn needles, spun polar bear thread, Arctic cotton, steel uluit, copper, rabbit fur, bubble wrap and packing tape Dimensions variable RIGHT (BOTTOM)

Installation view of Anaanatta Unikkaangit (Our Mother’s Stories), featuring Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona’s Aggaat (hands) (2023) and Ulu irngusiq (ulu mug) (2019)

Multiples

71

Back

CURATORIAL NOTES

Kablusiak Originally shown in 2021 at YYZ Artists’ Outlet in Toronto, ON, an installation by Calgary, AB-based Inuvialuk artist Kablusiak reflects on the history of residential schools and the inherent absurdity of experiencing trauma-laden places. “The words ‘DANGER’ and ‘ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK’—things you’d read on a sign at a haunted house or abandoned building, were sprawled across the outlet’s social media promotion for the event. It was evident that this was a satirical take on dark tourism—or trauma tourism—which includes visiting sites associated with death—or in this case, genocide,” Redhead explains.

Featuring a vintage doll, a cup and plate from Grollier Hall residential school in Inuvik, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT, an image of the cemetery in Tuktuuyaqtuuq (Tuktoyaktuk), Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT, and a Halloween soundtrack, Suvittuq! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ • Can’t be helped/ Too bad! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ displays an uncanny blend of remembrance and irony. As Redhead explains, the installation directly engages with how “Indigenous peoples’ traumas are exposed and consumed by non-Indigenous audiences.”

“If I’m going to be sad about colonialism and make art about it, I either want it to be so fucking ridiculous that it sets people off or have it open enough that people can relate to it.” 4 KABLUSIAK

LEFT

Kablusiak — Suviittuq! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ • Can’t be helped/Too bad! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 2023 A plastic doll, a plate and cup from Grollier Hall, a custom-printed photo backdrop of the Tuktuuyaqtuuq cemetery, and Halloween music and decoration OPPOSITE (TOP)

Ningiukulu Teevee — Kiakshuk’s Polar Bear 2017 Graphite and coloured pencil 69 × 106 cm OPPOSITE (BOTTOM)

Installation view of Anaanatta Unikkaangit (Our Mother’s Stories)

Inuit Art Quarterly

72

Fall 2023

CURATORIAL NOTES

Ningiukulu Teevee

“At first, I made art because we needed money.

But then I felt that I needed to keep our stories alive—our Inuit myths and legends that were told by our Elders.” 5

In works by Ningiukulu Teevee, a sharp eye for the everyday and a witty approach to Inuit legends are brought to life in lovingly rendered pencil drawings. Kiakshuk’s Polar Bear (2017) pays homage to renowned Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU, graphic artist Kiakshuk (1886–1966) and to his son, Lukta Qiatsuk (1928–2004), who made prints and sculptures based on his father’s work, participating in passing on his stories. In selecting works for the show, Redhead and Teevee looked at many of Teevee’s works together. “Both of us love Kiakshuk’s Polar Bear,” Redhead says. “Ever since I first laid eyes on that drawing, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. When I showed her the works in the collection she said, ‘Yeah, that’s one of my favourites.’”

NINGIUKULU TEEVEE

Learn more about KAMA and the shortlisted artists at inuitartfoundation.org/ kama

NOTES 1

2

3

4 5

Multiples

Excerpt from “How Chance Encounters Inspire Billy Gauthier’s Carvings,” interview by IAQ, IAQ Online, February 27, 2023, inuitartfoundation.org/iaq-online/how-chance-encounters-inspire-billy-gauthier-s-carvings.

Excerpt from “From an Artist’s Perspective: An Interview With Maureen Gruben,” interview by Napatsi Folger, IAQ Online, November 5, 2019, inuitartfoundation.org/iaq-online/interview-maureen-gruben.

Excerpt from “How Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona Builds Connection,” interview by IAQ, IAQ Online, February 27, 2023, inuitartfoundation.org/iaq-online/how-gayle-uyagaqi-kabloona-builds-connection.

Billy-Ray Belcourt, “Fucking Around with Inuit Art,” Inuit Art Quarterly, Spring 2022: 48.

Excerpt from “The Spirited Storytelling of Ningiukulu Teevee,” interview by IAQ, IAQ Online, February 27, 2023, inuitartfoundation.org/iaq-online/the-spirited-storytelling-of-ningiukulu-teevee.

73

Back

TRIBUTE

Mary Lou Sours

by Cordelia Qiġñaaq Kellie

In Northwest Alaska, there is a community within the traditional territories of the Iñupiat home to more than 400 people; it is called in Noatak or, in Iñupiaq, Nautaaq, which means “inland river.”

It was Nautaaq, her Elders and her loving family and friends throughout the Northwest region and around the state who influenced and cherished Mary Lou Sours, a master seamstress who passed away December 8, 2022.

In her short 50 years, Mary Lou would amass a following of thousands, be at the centre of a vast network of skin sewing students and enthusiasts and lead the revitalization of an art form that once was a household skillset—the traditional crafting of the kammak (maklaks, a pair of boots), made from seal and tuttu (caribou) skin, with atuŋŋaq (hard-bottomed soles) made from ugruk (bearded seal) skin.

In Alaska, the number of practitioners has grown, with long wait times to acquire new atuŋŋaq, either to replace old Inuit Art Quarterly

atuŋŋaq or to outfit people in new kammak. I became aware of Mary Lou when I saw a flyer for a kammak-making class in Dgheyaytnu (Anchorage), Alaska; it was rare in Alaska that someone was willing to teach this in a public class, and growing up outside of the city, it was a skill I had not yet learned.

“Long ago, everyone passed on their different styles . . . from mother to daughter, and somewhere along the way that gap was . . . broken to where families were not doing that anymore. So I just want everybody to get back into their culture and learn more about it, and keep it alive,” Mary Lou expressed in an Indie Alaska series interview produced by Alaska Public Media.1 Qunmiġu Kacey Hopson says, “I think the reason there was so much interest in her classes is that there is this deep desire within all of us to more strongly embody the knowledge of our ancestors that is our birthright and the knowledge that 74

Fall 2023

TRIBUTE

we would have had that transmission not been disrupted by colonization.” 2 Mary Lou made sewing kammak accessible through her sold-out classes— which were independent of any organization and well-documented on her Facebook page “Inupiaq Custom Mary Designs,”—and the creation of her famous kits, which bundled all of the needed materials cut to the requested size and prepared to stitch together.

While teaching and sharing knowledge with miquqtit (sewing students) across the state, she was also quietly helping those who were struggling, such as working to bring a woman home from the streets of Dgheyaytnu to her home village. “Mary Lou had a big heart in helping people who needed it,” her cousin Lena McClellen says. “She was that angel.” 3 Mary Lou’s daughter Alannah Jones—also a well-known and accomplished parka maker and seamstress in Alaska—recalls, “She did touch a lot of people’s hearts and did her very best to pass on her knowledge. She would want the knowledge she passed on to keep going no matter how hard it may be.” 4 Lena Sours, Mary Lou’s great-grandmother, was a prolific seamstress, and Mary Lou began sewing as a girl with her mom, but really began sewing in earnest after the birth of her grandson.

Many describe the spaces that Mary Lou created as therapeutic. “She helped to create this space where we could come together and create this healing community,” Hopson describes. “It’s not just healing because she was claiming

Multiples

knowledge that had been disrupted, but it was healing because we were creating this space of Indigenous sisterhood that is harder to come across in Anchorage.” Fellow student Patuk Glenn agrees: “Coming together was so healing for the soul for me. I don’t think she knew this, but she was saving people’s lives.” 5 During the Indie Alaska series interview, Mary Lou expressed about her students: “It’s so exciting to see their faces light up when they learn something new and they’re just so in awe that they’re doing it and I’m like, you know, that’s what it’s all about.” 6 In Mary Lou’s last-ever class, she said soundly and clearly to her students, “Don’t be stingy with knowledge. That is not our way.

The more we share, the greater chance we have that we keep our culture and traditions alive.”

— Cordelia Qiġñaaq Kellie is an Iñupiaq writer, convener, advocate and community organizer who is based in Anchorage. Her family comes from Ulġuniq (Wainwright), Alaska, and she is a tribal citizen of the Native Village of Wainwright.

Kellie was raised in Benteh (Wasilla), Alaska, on the land of the Dena’ina and has spent her career engaging with community members and is a co-founder of Iḷisaqativut, an Iñupiaq adult language-learning intensive, and Kipiġniuqtit Iñupiurallanikun, the language collective bringing together the three regions of Iñupiat Nation and Iñupiat from wherever they reside.

75

OPPOSITE & BELOW

Mary Lou Sours demonstrating the traditional crafting of the kammak in a 2022 workshop ALL COURTESY ALASKA PUBLIC MEDIA

NOTES 1

2

3

4

5

6

Sharing the Iñupiat art of making Mukluks,” produced by Alaska Public Media, Indie Alaska, video, 5:43, August 28, 2019, youtube.com/watch?v= MDjJYE0tmFQ. All quotes Qunmiġu Kacey Hopson, interview with Cordelia Qiġñaaq Kellie, April 2023 All quotes Lena McClellen, written correspondence with Cordelia Qiġñaaq Kellie, May 2023 All quotes Alannah Jones, written correspondence with Cordelia Qiġñaaq Kellie, April 2023 All quotes Patuk Glenn, interview with Cordelia Qiġñaaq Kellie, May 2023 See note 1 above.

Back

Ningiukulu Teevee, Imaginary Thought, 2023 (detail)

2023 CAPE DORSET Annual Print Collection

Opening Oct 21, 2023

dorsetfinearts.com iaqad2019_converted.indd 1

2023-07-12 10:59 AM

2534 km to Nunavut, 10 steps to your mailbox.

IAQ36.3_SubscriptionAd_hp.indd 1

Inuit Art Quarterly

2023-08-23 4:01 PM

76

Fall 2032

It’s OWL That!

Gallery & Studio

Agile Fox by Quvianktuk Pudlat Cape Dorset 2019

www.inuitartprint.com

Specializing in Inuit Art since 1963

"Ancestor's Spirit Emerging" (2023)

by Manasie Akpaliapik

Visit us online: a new collection of works from Master Sculptor Manasie Akpaliapik

Falcon, Pauta Saila, Kinngait

REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS © THE ARTIST

83 Sparks St. Mall • Ottawa, ON snowgoose.ca | 613-232-2213 | info@snowgoose.ca

363_SnowGoose_Ad.indd 1

Multipes

2023-08-24 10:32 AM

77

Back

NEWS

Updates and highlights from the world of Inuit art and culture

LEFT

RIGHT (BOTTOM)

Theresie Tungilik (left) and Maata (Martha) Kyak (right)

Kablusiak — Red Ookpik with Harness 2022 Dyed sealskin, felt, fibre fill, embroidery floss, leather and hardware 9.5 × 9.5 × 16.5 cm

COURTESY THE ARTISTS

RIGHT (TOP)

National Indigenous Peoples Day commemorative coin designed by Myrna Pokiak (Agnaviak), Megan Currie and Jennine Krauchi

COURTESY NORBERG HALL © THE ARTIST

COURTESY ROYAL CANADIAN MINT

Theresie Tungilik and Maata (Martha) Kyak Take the Helm at New Positions Kangiqliniq, NU, artist and arts advocate Theresie Tungilik and fashion designer and artist Maata (Martha) Kyak, who is from Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet), NU, both took up leadership positions this summer, with Tungilik named the new National President and Spokesperson of Canadian Artists’ Representation / Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC) and Kyak appointed Executive Director at the Nunavut Sivuniksavut college in Ottawa, ON. Tungilik has been an advisor for the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Arts & Traditional Economy since 2003, and in 2021 she was appointed to the board of the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq and serves on its Indigenous Advisory Circle.

“As the president of CARFAC, at this point, I now represent all Canadian visual artists,” Tungilik told the IAQ over the summer. “I feel that I’ve been given a really big opportunity to have my voice heard and also to represent Inuit artists along with other visual artists in this role.”

Kyak, the creative mind behind the label Inuk Chic, began her educator career as a supply teacher in Mittimatalik, before taking a position at the college, which offers programs in throat singing and drum making, among others. “We’re meeting as a staff to see what things work and what hasn’t worked, and see how we can improve our school and make it even better and stronger,” said Kyak in an interview with Canadian Press. “As Inuit, we really want to see the younger generation rise up and be proud of who they are, and to do whatever they want to do in life.”

Inuit Art Quarterly

First Arts Sets World Records in June Auction

Myrna Pokiak (Agnaviak) Collaborates on a New Coin for Royal Canadian Mint

On June 12 First Arts’ live auction of Inuit and First Nations Art set 17 new world records. One of the top sales was for Untitled (Composition with skidoos and ulus), an early 1970s textile work by renowned Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake), NU, artist Jessie Oonark, OC RCA (1906–1985), which sold for $168,000, breaking First Arts’ previous record for this artist’s work at auction. Other highlights include a 2007 oilstick self-portrait by Jutai Toonoo (1959–2015) which sold for $15,600, and an untitled textile work from 2004 by Annie Taipanak which sold for $24,000, more than twice its estimate.

Multidisciplinary artist and designer Myrna Pokiak (Agnaviak) was one of three artists selected to collaboratively design a new coin marking National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21. Pokiak—originally from Tuktuuyaqtuuq (Tuktoyaktuk), Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT, and currently residing in Yellowknife, NT—wove together her ulu and inukshuk design with elements contributed by artists Megan Currie, from English River First Nation, and Red River Métis Jennine Krauchi.

This is the second time that Pokiak has designed a coin for the Mint. In 2020 her artwork appeared on a coin celebrating 150 years of the Northwest Territories.

The IAQ Wins Cover Grand Prix at 2023 National Magazine Awards On June 2 at a gala event held at the Arcadian Court in Toronto, ON, the Inuit Art Quarterly (IAQ) was presented with the National Magazine Awards’ top prize in the Cover Grand Prix category.

The IAQ’s Winter 2022 issue, Colour: Chromatic North, featured a limited-edition detachable lenticular cover that shifts from blue to green smoky photos as it is tilted by the viewer. The images feature artwork from Katherine Takpannie’s Amiat series, an ongoing exploration of colour and movement using smoke bombs, paired with original poetry from Taqralik Partridge as part of a larger artist project, Tauttuq, featured within the issue. “Tauttuq,” received honourable mention in the One of a Kind Storytelling category, and the issue as a whole received an honourable mention for Best Editorial Package.

Want More Inuit Art News?

Kablusiak Shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award

Get all the news, faster at: inuitartfoundation.org/news 78

Fall 2023

Support the future of the Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award today Help Inuit artists to create, share and show their work by giving generously to the award.

Please give generously today at inuitartfoundation.org/donate

IAQ36.3_KAMAad_hp_01.indd 1

Multipes

2023-08-30 12:34 PM

79

Back

LAST LOOK

Malaija Pootoogook Knives

In Malaija Pootoogook’s (1971–2021) Knives (2018) we see a wide selection of knives and uluit, almost like a peek into a kitchen drawer.

A departure from the artist’s usual subjects, which generally focus on animals, here Pootoogook recognizes the importance of Inuit knives and pays tribute to their many forms, bringing the idea of tools as art into clear view. Knives showcases an element of Inuit art that I think is very important, but which isn’t necessarily an obvious consideration when we think of Inuit art: functionality.

Historically, most Inuit art was made on working items, things like tools and clothing, integrating beautiful form with practical purpose. Inuit knives are first and foremost tools, but they also function as cultural and geographic markers: they come in different shapes and sizes depending on regions and even communities. Many are also adorned with beautiful art on the handles and can be used for so many activities, from cutting meat and other foods—I like removing kale from its stalk with mine—to cleaning skins and cutting snow blocks for building an iglu. They are the ultimate multitools.

Pootoogook’s Knives shows the multiplicity of knives Inuit have and continue to utilize every day, drawing attention to their differing shapes while keeping the materials consistent: metal blades, wooden handles.

Functionality is also one of the reasons why art forms like printmaking are so appealing to Inuit artists: it allows for the creation of artwork in multiple prints, maximizing the returns on the significant input it requires to create the images and transfer them onto the various forms of printing media. Access to materials is also an issue in the North, so being able to create many prints from one stone, wood, stencil or lino block is an appealing option. Like an ulu that has been used for generations, the printmaking process is valuable because of its extended usefulness. Creating art that makes more art, I can just see our ancestors smiling and nodding approvingly at such an efficient and bountiful innovation.

NAPATSI FOLGER

Tauttunnguaqti

Malaija Pootoogook — Knives 2018 Printermaker Niveaksie Quvianaqtuliaq Lithograph 57 × 38 cm REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION DORSET FINE ARTS © THE ARTIST

Inuit Art Quarterly

80

Fall 2023

Negotiating Borders / 경계협상

Frank Shebageget

A North American Art Collection amplifying diverse voices and creating conversations.

Image Credit: Frank Shebageget (Anishinaabe), Free Ride, vintage five dollar bank notes, engraved maple frame, 2022 Edition 3/3, 35.75 x 35.5 x 2”. ourtesy of the TD Corporate Art Collection. © Frank Shebageget, 2023.

Learn more at td.com/art.

Visit the TD Gallery of Indigenous Art at 79 Wellington St. West in Toronto. ® The TD logo and other TD trademarks are the property of the Toronto-Domion Bank or its subsidiaries.