Inuit Life

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Cornelius (Kooneeloosee) Nutarak, "Celebration and Drum Dancing," 1964

graphite on paper (© Canadian Museum of History, IV-C-6955)

Travelling by plane and dog sled, one of the godfathers of Inuit art toured the northern shore of Baffin Island in 1964, offering pencils and paper to local people to draw picture of whatever they wanted.

Some 150 Inuit gave 1,842 drawings of their thoughts, apprehensions and memories – a portrait of a people in transition – to Terry Ryan, the general manager of what was then the fledgling Cape Dorset art studio.

The images, now held in the collection of the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., reflect pride in the past and acknowledge the new ways of living imported from the south.

An exhibition of 50 of those drawings, Picturing Arctic Modernity – North Baffin Drawings From 1964, has been touring the country since 2017. It will be on view at the Burnaby Art Gallery in Greater Vancouver from Nov. 17 to Jan. 13.

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Martha Coronik Akoomalik, "We Are Using Another Way of Life Today," 1964

graphite on paper (© Canadian Museum of History, IV-C-8204)

“The drawings show an extraordinary compulsion to record peoples’ lives, their own lives,” says Norman Vorano, the Inuit art expert at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., who curated the exhibition.

Ancient traditions related to hunting, clothing, food, games and legends are celebrated in these drawings, mainly from the communities of Pond Inlet (Mittimatalik), Arctic Bay (Ikpiarjuk) and Clyde River (Kanngiqtugaapik).

While the drawings on their own do not convey sorrow at the passing of traditions, Vorano says some Inuktitut writings on the pictures lament the changes.

Consider Things Left For Us From the Old Times, a drawing by Jemima Angelik Nutarak, of Pond Inlet. She proudly shows toys, cooking pots and ulus, a type of knife, used by the Dorset people, who lived in the Arctic before the Inuit.

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Cornelius (Kooneeloosee) Nutarak, "Making Iglu Together," 1964

graphite on paper (© Canadian Museum of History, IV-C-6953)

Cornelius Nutarak, of Clyde River, drew Making Iglu Together, depicting hunters who need to spend a night on the land building a shelter. Inuktitut writing on the drawing compares Inuit customs to those of the south: “They (Inuit) do not just go to the shed and pick their dinner like white people. They have no choice but to hunt for it.”

Without praise or criticism, Solomonie Tigullaraq, of Clyde River, drew New Things in Our Life. It shows a shovel, a pick, a stove, an accordion, an organ and a uniformed policeman.

No one who made drawings had received any art instruction. Some are well drafted. Others have a more childlike style.

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Jemima Angelik Nutarak, "Juggling Songs," 1964

graphite on paper (© Canadian Museum of History, IV-C-6917)

There are some gems, including Juggling Songs, an arresting portrait by Jemima Angelik Nutarak that shows a woman dressed in a caribou amauti, a type of parka, juggling stones and singing an ajaja song of obscure or nonsensical words. The drawing makes you want to learn more.

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Jacob Peterloosie, "Tormenting a Polar Bear," 1964

graphite and coloured pencil on paper (© Canadian Museum of History, IV-C-6725)

One surprising work, Tormenting a Polar Bear, by Jacob Peterloosie, of Pond Inlet, relates a true story about teenaged boys who tease a polar bear by throwing rocks at it. The angry bear then attacks one of the youths and is shot. We might think Inuit wouldn’t torment a bear. But the exhibition demonstrates how little many of us know about the North. ■

Picturing Arctic Modernity – North Baffin Drawings From 1964 can be seen at the Burnaby Art Gallery from Nov. 17, 2018 to Jan. 13, 2019.