March 8 – August 24
Since the 1990 transfer of 90,000 works on paper from the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, new generations of Kinngait artists have emerged onto the contemporary art scene, capturing visions of their community into the new millennium.
From the exacting, illustrative style of artists such as Itee Pootoogook and Tim Pitsiulak, to the dreamscapes of Ooloosie Saila and Shuvinai Ashoona, Kinngait artists have continued to innovate with drawing as a medium unto itself—moving beyond its role as a preparatory step in the printmaking process. In the 2000s, artistic practice shifted with the introduction of large-scale works on paper and an embrace of candid, often humorous depictions of contemporary Inuit life. Prefabricated houses, snow machines, and trips to the co-op store mark the established way of life in the hamlet today, but the values of cooperation and care remain the same.
Curated by Emily Laurent Henderson, Associate Curator, Indigenous Arts and Culture at McMichael, this exhibition is presented in dialogue with Worlds on Paper: Drawings from Kinngait.
