artists of the Arctic

The Tunirrusiangit exhibition in the Art Gallery of Ontario showed us the power of Inuit contemporary art. Now many artists have partnered with the British Museum in Arctic: Culture and Climate to show us that their vision, talent and culture thrive in today's world.

Cutting up seal, making a kayak by Lucassie Tukalak, 1985
Soapstone print

Working with your hands is a skill both of necessity and beauty in the Arctic. With few resources, people use whatever the stark environment produces to make their food, clothes, equipment...and art. 

Family Sewing and Building a Kayak, Mtarjuk Nappaaluk, 1969
Soapstone and bone carving

Soapstone is one of the most popular materials in Inuit art, being used in carving for thousands of years. In 1957 Canadian arts administrator James Houston collaborated with Inuit sculptors on Baffin Island to form a collective of printmakers called the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative.

Soapstone sculptures, unknown artists, 1960-80

One of the most famous artists of this collective, and Inuit art, is Kenojuak Ashevak, who we wrote about in the wonder | wander | women blog. Her art is part of the Canadian national heritage, and even featured on their stamps.

Nunavut Qajanartuk (Our Beautiful Land), Kenojuak Ashevak, 1992
Hand-coloured lithograph print

A founding member of the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative, Ashevak led the way for many Inuit artists to express themselves and their culture through printmaking. This new art form is based on the traditional Japanese practice - the artist draws the work and the printmaker cuts the stone and makes the prints, and each of them is credited in the work with a special chop. Read more on the process here.

Hunter's Dream, Andrew Qappik, 2012
Linocut print

Andrew Qappik is a printmaker and graphic artist who helped design the Nunavut coat of arms. His prints depict the daily life of Arctic people with an approach both practical and dreamlike. 

There's Another One, Andrew Qappik, 2012
Coloured stencil drawing

This life of hunting and fishing appears so much in Arctic art because as necessary as it is, it also has cultural significance. In the seeming barrenness of the North, hunting is seen as the receiving and sharing of a gift given by nature.

Man making a kayak, women making clothes, Levi Qumaluk, 1986
Stonecut print

At the summer solstice, the people of the Sakha Republic in northeast Russia celebrate this blessing with a festival called the yhyakh, which marks the ending of the brutally cold winter and the return of summer and warm weather. Singing, dancing and horse racing are all part of the festivities.

Model of an yhyakh, unknown artist, c.1825-67
Mammoth ivory and wood

Fedor Markov, Sakha sculptor, created this new version of an yhyakh model with whimsical, lifelike figures of people and horses, capturing the lively atmosphere of the festival.

Contemporary yhyakh, Fedor Markov, 2019-2020
Mammoth ivory, wood

Cultural teacher and former commissioner of Nunavut Piita Irniq built this inuksuk especially for the British Museum exhibition. An inuksuk is a cultural place marker made of large stones carefully balanced on top of each other, built to denote a location of particular significance in the landscape, or to point the way towards water or hunting grounds.

Silent Messenger, Piita Irniq, 2019
Kentish ragstone

Piita travelled from Nunavut to London to build this marker out of local Kentish ragstone. In Piita's own words, this inuksuk is "a silent messenger...it symbolizes the survival of Inuit. It will give the people here an opportunity to learn how we have innovated and survived since time immemorial." You can watch the process of constructing the inuksuk here.

Arctic Foliage, Hattie Akilak, 1974
Wool, felt, cotton

So much of the art of the Arctic is tactile. With the amount of work needed simply to survive, labour is an expression of love. These wall hangings by Hattie Akilak and Jessie Oonark show how much the artists enjoy the work that goes into making them.

Wall hanging, Jessie Oonark, c. 1973
Wool, felt, cotton

Sometimes a sense of humour shines through. The women's heads in the Oonark tapestry are shaped like ulus, all-purpose knives used mostly by women. And in this futuristic sculpture by Lawrence Beck, the shiny robot is a walrus made from found material like tires and a hubcap.

Poonk Timertik Inua (Punk Walrus Spirit), Lawrence Beck, 1987
Steel, rubber, plastic, ink

The art of the Arctic peoples thrived for thousands of years and more importantly, it is still thriving and growing. They are illustrating a chronicle of our planet and of humanity's own lifetime.  These artists show the rest of us what art is and could be to all people, and we celebrate them for it.