Winnipeg's Inuit Art Centre Gets Inuktitut Name

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Winnipeg's Qaumanjuq, formerly known at the Inuit Art Center, shown in this architectural rendering, will open early next year. (courtesy of Winnipeg Art Gallery)

The Inuit Art Centre in Winnipeg has a new Inuktitut name.

A circle of language keepers has named the centre Qaumajuq, pronounced HOW-ma-yourq, says the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

The word means “it is bright, it is lit" and celebrates the light that flows into the new 40,000-square-foot building, expected to open in February.

The gallery's director, Stephen Borys, said the name evolved during a powerful time of cross-cultural reflection and relationship building.

"This initiative is an act of decolonization, supporting reconciliation and Indigenous knowledge transmission for generations to come, in an effort to ensure WAG-Qaumajuq will be a home where Indigenous communities feel welcome – where everyone feels welcome," he said.

The circle of language keepers, which represents Indigenous communities across Inuit Nunangat and Treaty 1 territory, also endowed the Winnipeg Art Gallery with an Anishinaabemowin name: Biindigin Biwaasaeyaah, pronounced as BEEN-deh-gen Bi-WAH-say-yah.

It means “come on in, the dawn of light is here” or "the dawn of light is coming."

The Winnipeg Art Gallery is not the first Canadian art venue to adopt an Indigenous name. Earlier this month, the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge was given a Blackfoot name, Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin. Its meaning relates to the telling of stories through word and image. 

The renaming process responds to Indigenous language provisions in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

Julie Nagam and Heather Igloliorte, co-chairs of the Indigenous advisory circle, said they were excited about this step in the museum's decolonization process.

"We are so honoured to gift the institution with these new names that point to a new a path forward for galleries and museums in this country,” they said.

The language keepers represent all four regions of Inuit Nunangat, including the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Nunavut, Nunavik and Nunatsiavut. Because the museum is on Treaty 1 territory, Anishinaabemowin and Nêhiyawêwin speakers, as well as Dakota and Michif (Métis) speakers were also at the table. 

Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Art Gallery has opened a new exhibition that celebrates the history of Inuk clothing.

Inuk Style, curated by Jocelyn Piirainen, the gallery's assistant curator of Inuit art, will be on view until May 2. 

“Inuit have always made our own clothing," says Piirainen. "Inuk Style celebrates the history of the varying styles of clothing and jewelry, and how contemporary artists are reworking traditional materials, knowledge and sewing skills to create unique pieces of wearable art."

The show, drawn from the Government of Nunavut's Fine Arts Collection, held on long-term loan at the gallery, includes a range of work spanning the Western to Eastern regions of the Canadian Arctic.

Source: Winnipeg Art Gallery