Shuvinai Ashoona: Singular Vision

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Shuvinai Ashoona, "Untitled (Tentacles)," 2018

Graphite, Coloured Pencil, Ink, 37.75” x 9.25”

As Inuit artists are increasingly being presented in major solo and international exhibitions, awareness of these talented artists has grown beyond the community of Inuit art admirers. In 2017, for example, Kananginak Pootoogook was the first Inuit artist to be included in the Venice Biennale’s main exhibition. That same year, Ningiukulu Teevee had a major touring exhibition that was hosted at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC. Opening tomorrow at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Shuvinai Ashoona: Mapping Worlds, a touring exhibition of 36 works on paper makes it's debut in Western Canada.

The Inuit Gallery first exhibited Shuvinai Ashoona's drawings in 1998 and her work has been consistently in the gallery and a favorite since that time. Today we are excited to present a wonderful collection of recent drawings by Shuvinai Ashoona, which celebrate her unique vision. From portraits, landscape and traditional motifs to many-tentacled creatures, globes and dinosaur eggs, Shuvinai’s work combines the everyday and the imaginative. Among the drawings in this collection, she has created images of daily life in Cape Dorset, of people in the classroom, sewing, performing on stage, or working on art as well as portraits and figure groups. She has also created more imaginatively based works such as a series of interlinked planets held in the jaws of serpents, her drawing of a sled team consisting of a dog, alligator, birds, a seal and the sea-goddess Sedna, and her drawing of a series of animals listening to mp3 players.

Each art work is a world in itself that captivates and intrigues. We hope the drawings bring endless fascination and we look forward to discussing them with you.