Picturing Arctic Modernity – North Baffin Drawings from 1964
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Burnaby Art Gallery 6344 Deer Lake Ave, Burnaby, British Columbia V5G 2J3
Cornelius (Kooneeloosee) Nutarak, 1924, Clyde River, Nunavut – 2007, Pond Inlet, Nunavut Celebration and Drum Dancing (detail), 1964
graphite on paper, © Canadian Museum of History, IV-C-6955Inscription on back: "Just like they did in very old times, he is dancing. They are also singing... The women are singing'Ayaya, Ovanga, Oya, Ayaya.' The person dancing is saying 'Eya.'"
From November 16, 2018 to January 13, 2019, the Burnaby Art Gallery will present the travelling exhibition, Picturing Arctic Modernity – North Baffin Drawings from 1964, developed in partnership by the Canadian Museum of History and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University, with the assistance of the Pond Inlet Archives, Ilisaqsivik, Ittaq and Piqqusilirivvik.
Through 50 original drawings — created in 1964 by Inuit men and women of North Baffin Island — this exhibition explores a transformative era for the people of Canada’s Eastern Arctic. The drawings offer rare first-person perspectives on daily life, history and memory during a time when Inuit communities were transitioning from traditional nomadic hunting camps to permanent settlements.
“We are honoured to bring this important exhibition to the Metro Vancouver community. We hope that local audiences will take this unique opportunity to learn more about Inuit stories, through their own words and drawings. I invite everyone to join us for the opening reception, Curator’s tour and free family programs during the course of this exhibition,” says Ellen van Eijnsbergen, Director/Curator at the Burnaby Art Gallery.
“These drawings are a priceless record of the sweeping changes that reshaped Inuit society on North Baffin Island in the 1960s,” said Mark O’Neill, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of History. “The people who created these illustrations understood that their way of life was changing dramatically, and that it was important to preserve their knowledge and memories. As a museum committed to preserving and promoting the history of Canada and its peoples, we are proud to share these uniquely important cultural treasures with the citizens of Burnaby.”
The entire exhibition (text, videos, website and in-gallery booklet) is presented in Inuktitut, French and English. The exhibition also features 42 video clips of the artists, their families, and community members who provide their interpretations of the drawings.
“Picturing Arctic Modernity is an exhibition of powerful stories that speak equally through the economical expression of the graphite drawings made in 1964, and the voices of Inuit recorded in North Baffin communities in 2016,” remarked Jan Allen, Director of Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University. “To create this project, curator Dr. Norman Vorano worked closely with collaborators at Piqqusilirivvik Inuit Cultural Learning Facility in Clyde River and Pond Inlet Archives and the people of North Baffin, including the artists, their families and friends, translators, editors and videographers. Together, they have achieved a profound and moving record of cultural change in the Arctic.”
The 50 drawings are part of the Terrence Peter Ryan Baffin Island Drawing Collection, which the Canadian Museum of History acquired in 2014. Terry Ryan was resident art advisor at the famous Cape Dorset print studio for almost 40 years. In 1964, fearing the disappearance of traditional Inuit culture, he journeyed by plane and dogsled to Clyde River, Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay, where he distributed paper and pencils to Inuit men, women and youth, and invited them to draw anything they wanted. More than 150 people completed 1,842 drawings, which Ryan purchased at his own expense.