Drawing North: Contemporary Drawings from Kinngait

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Ningiukulu Teevee, "Untitled (Raven Transformation)," n. d.

Kinngait (Cape Dorset), coloured pencil, ink, 23” x 30”

Drawing North: Contemporary Drawings from Kinngait

This month we are delighted to present a collection of graphic works by a dynamic group of Kinngait’s finest contemporary visual artists. These scenes from the North bring together the traditional and contemporary, referencing the constant melding of worlds that contemporary Inuit experience.

Life in the Arctic is in constant flux and the artists featured in this selection, including Inuit Gallery favourites such as Shuvinai Ashoona, Ningiukulu Teevee, Nicotye Samayualie, Qavavau Manumie and Ooloosie Saila, respond to and reinterpret the dynamic world around them. The drawings in this collection range from the traditional (Ningiukulu Teevee’s Owl with Raven’s new shoes, or her Throat Singers), to the factual (Jutai Toonoo’s burning candle, Padloo Samayualie’s beautiful landscapes, or Pauojoungie Saggiaq’s Bowhead Whales), and the fanciful (Saimaiyu Akesuk’s fishing birds and jigsaw puzzle bear, or Qavavau Manumie’s Inuralaat - little people - who explore the land and sea).

The expressive and engaging compositions come from a long tradition of drawing in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), dating back to the establishment of the graphics program, when the drawings were produced to support the print program. Over the years the drawings came to be valued as artworks in themselves and today are celebrated internationally.