INUA: Inuit Moving Forward Together
Wide-ranging inaugural exhibition at Qaumajuq, Winnipeg’s new Inuit art centre.
Maureen Gruben, “Waiting for the Shaman,” 2017
bones from polar bear paws and resin, 22″ × 22″ × 1″ (courtesy of Winnipeg Art Gallery; photo by Kyra Kordowski)
As the inaugural exhibition for Qaumajuq, Winnipeg’s newly constructed centre for Inuit art, INUA accomplishes a great deal without ever feeling programmatic. This is a statement show that speaks with nuance and care.
In many dialects across the Arctic, the word “inua” evokes the life force. It’s used here also as an acronym – because this is 2021 and we love acronyms – for Inuit Nunangat Ungammuaktut Atautikkut, or “Inuit Moving Forward Together.”
"INUA" installation in progress at Qaumajuq
Winnipeg's Inuit art centre, earlier this year. (courtesy the Winnipeg Art Gallery; photo by Calvin Lee Joseph)
Reflecting that mandate, this wide-ranging group show, on view until April, features over 90 artists, mostly from across the Canadian Arctic, as well as artists working and living in the urban south and some contributors from circumpolar areas such as Alaska and Greenland. The four-person curatorial team – Heather Igloliorte, Kablusiak, Asinnajaq and Krista Ulujuk Zawadski – covers the four northern regions of Canada, emphasizing the connection of Inuit art to the land, kinship and community.
"INUA" at Qaumajuq
Winnipeg's Inuit art centre, is on view until April. (courtesy the Winnipeg Art Gallery; photo by Lindsay Reid)
The opening of Qaumajuq, a purpose-built structure linked to the Winnipeg Art Gallery, also suggests a reconsideration and recentring of institutional power. Challenging museum practices that have often treated Indigenous art as a sideline – a collection of historical artifacts, rather than a vital contemporary practice – the new gallery commits to transparency and accessibility, an approach signalled by the building’s bright, light and open design.
Jesse Tungilik, “Sealskin Spacesuit,” 2018
(Indigenous Art Collection, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada; photo by Jessica Kotierk)
In this premiere, the curatorial team emphasizes current art – including several major commissioned works – but also calls back to traditional forms, underlining both continuity and change. There are stone sculptures, prints and textiles, along with photo-based works, video installations, text-based pieces and some genre-busting hybrids, from Iqaluullamiluuq, a tricked-out mermaid motorcycle sidecar by Mattiusi Iyaituk (Akulivik, Que.) and Etienne Guay (Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Que.), to Sealskin Spacesuit, by Jesse Tungilik (Iqaluit, Nunavut), a cool, clever bit of Inuit-Futurism.
Mattiusi Iyaituk and Etienne Guay, “Iqaluullamiluuq (First Mermaid) that can Maneuver on the Land (side car),” 2016
caribou antler, metal, aluminum, wood and plastic (collection of Nunavik Inuit Art, Avataq Cultural Institute)
There are also functional objects such as clothing, dolls, purses and bags. Subtle-tea, an elegantly constructed teapot by Michael Massie (Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L.), is both useful and beautiful, reminding us that Inuit practice has always rejected hierarchical Western distinctions between art and craft. Another work that challenges the whole notion of classification is the witty Sealskin Rug, which is impossibly, comically huge because it is, in fact, made from yarn. Artist Couzyn van Heuvelen (Bowmanville, Ont.) follows the organic patterns of a real-life hide but translates them into super-plush shag.
The show includes several large-scale installations, all of which are grounded in a specifically northern sense of place. Ajjigiingiluktaaqugut (We Are All Different) by Lindsay McIntyre (Vancouver) is set up like a grandmother’s homey kitchen. Video and audio components are conveyed through an old TV and an ancient radio, while an Arborite table, two vinyl chairs and a pair of enamelled cups hanging on hooks seem to invite us all in for a conversation about history, community and identity.
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Glenn Gear, “Iluani-Silami (It’s Full of Stars),” 2021
shipping container, paint on plywood, sound and video projection (courtesy of artist and Winnipeg Art Gallery)
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Glenn Gear, “Iluani-Silami (It’s Full of Stars),” 2021
shipping container, paint on plywood, sound and video projection (courtesy of artist and Winnipeg Art Gallery)
From the exterior, Iluani/Silami (It’s full of stars) by Glenn Gear (Montreal) is a shipping container, a common enough sight in the Arctic. Enter its darkened interior, however, and there are two punchy, graphic, black-and-white murals of futuristic animals (wolves in space!) flanking a trippy “eye” that offers up video projections of Nunatsiavut landscapes.
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Zacharias Kunuk and Isuma Team, “My Little Corner of Canada (still detail),” 2020
produced by Nunavut Independent Television Network, four-channel video installation (collection of the artist; courtesy the Winnipeg Art Gallery)
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Zacharias Kunuk and Isuma Team, “My Little Corner of Canada (still detail),” 2020
produced by Nunavut Independent Television Network, four-channel video installation (collection of the artist; courtesy the Winnipeg Art Gallery)
My Little Corner of Canada, by artist and filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk (Igloolik, Nunavut), houses a four-channel video installation within a realistic recreation of a blue-painted hunting cabin. The interior projections juxtapose coastal vistas and intimate, everyday human activities – children playing or women cleaning skins – with the bureaucratic processes of official hearings into land and resource use, suggesting two different (and often clashing) information systems.
William Noah, “The Skeletoned Caribou,” 1974
coloured pencil on paper (collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery)
Alongside these big showstoppers, there are several points in the exhibition where multiple smaller works are hung together, connected through medium – prints, textiles, doll-making – but often spanning decades. Alongside works by well-known elders such as William Noah and Jessie Oonark, several pieces are listed as being by an “Unidentified Artist.” The term takes on a pointed meaning here, suggesting the ways Inuit art objects have sometimes been treated in the past, with their collection, documentation and display inflected by colonial attitudes.
The curved lines of the galleries, which offer hidden corners and unexpected views, encourage a slow, wandering, contemplative experience that works well with the varied and complex nature of the art. If that physical experience isn’t possible, pandemic-sparked developments in virtual programming, along with Qaumajuq’s commitment to connecting with audiences beyond Winnipeg – especially audiences in the North – means there’s some significant online support to the show. You can check it out here. ■
INUA: Inuit Nunangat Ungammuaktut Atautikkut (Inuit Moving Forward Together) at Qaumajuq in Winnipeg from August 2021 to April 2022. Artists include Brian Adams, Allison Akootchook Warden, Olassie Akulukjuk, Eldred Allen, Siku Allooloo, Donat Anawak, Elizabeth Angrnaqquaq, Michael Angutituak, Marjorie Agluvak Aqiggaaq, Irene Avaalaaqiaq Tiktaalaaq, Fanny Avatituq, Darcie Bernhardt, Beatrice Deer, Norman Ekoomiak, Alice Evaglok, Glenn Gear, Julie Grenier, Maureen Gruben, Suzannah Igloliorte, Elisapi Uppatitsiaq Inukpuk, Elisapee Ishulutaq, Mattiusi Iyaituk, Bronson Jacque, Eugenie Tautoonie Kabluitok, Veronica Kadjuak Manilak, Martha Kakee, Octave Tigumiak Kappi, Rhoda Akpaliapik Karetak, Jessie Kenalogak, Olajuk Kigutikakjuk, Jessie Kleemann, Eva Kootook, Pie Kukshout, Kunoo, Zacharias Kunuk, Mary Mariq Kuutsiq, Maata (Martha) Kyak, Megan Kyak-Montieth, Victoria Mamnguqsualuk Kayuryuk, Annie Manning, Michael Massie, Lindsay McIntyre, Drew Michael, Qaunaq Mikkigak, Jenny Irene Miller, Shirley Moorhouse, Bill Nasogaluak, Ella Nasogaluak-Brown, Niap, Lucy Nimiqtaqtuq, Martha Noah, William Noah, Gukki Nuka, Tommy Nuvaqirq, Jessie Oonark, David Ruben Piqtoukun, Mary Pitseolak, Napachie Pootoogook, Aoudla Pudlat, Pudlo Pudlat, Ruth Qaulluaryuk, Eli Sallualu Qinuajua, Lisipi Saittoq, Yvo Samgushak, Victor Sammurtok, Maya Sialuk Jacobsen, Mikki Siusangnark, Noah Taottotsiark Siusangnark, Gabriel Isaac Suarak, Jimmy Taipanak, Joe Talirunili, Ningiukulu Teevee, Eli Tikeayak, Papiara Tukiki, Eva Itikituq Tulurialik, Cecilia Arnadjuk Tungilik, Jesse Tungilik, Oviloo Tunnillie, Lucien Tutuk Kabluitok, Marion Tuu’luq, Philip Ugjuk, Couzyn van Heuvelen and Mary Yuusipik Singaqti.
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