KENOJUAK ASHEVAK | LIFE AND LEGACY
October 9 – December 10 , 2020

FRIDAY, October 9th, 7 – 10pm
Come for a late night visit at the ODD Gallery and then check out COLD CUTS VIDEO FESTIVAL (outdoor screenings + bonfire!) as part of the Dawson City International Short Film Festival.

DETAILS TBD:
Join us in the ODD Gallery for a video visit with artists and community members live from Kingaitt, Nunavut.
*limited space in gallery + outdoor screen

With a career spanning more than five decades, Kenojuak Ashevak (1927 – 2013) was part of a pioneering generation of Arctic creators from Cape Dorset. She enjoyed an illustrious international career and continues to be regarded as one of Canada’s preeminent Inuit artists and cultural icons. Since beginning to experiment with drawing in the 1950s, she has produced a vast body of work, mainly utilizing graphite, coloured pencils and felt-tip pens on paper.

Kenojuak approached her work with a strong creative intuition. Her drawings would emerge almost unconsciously – a process she would describe as her hand leading her mind. Her aesthetic approach is easily noticeable, with archetypal drawings that captured images of birds, fish, bears and mystical figures. Her highly idiosyncratic imagery is perhaps one of the most recognizable of any Canadian artist and has been included on stamps, coins and, more recently, the ten-dollar banknote. Kenojuak’s work exudes a bright vibrant energy with a touch of whimsy, all wrapped in a pure wonder for the natural world. Her work has been featured in nearly every Cape Dorset Annual Print Release since 1959. Her images have also been shown throughout Canada, the United States and abroad, and are included in numerous public and private collections.

This exhibition comprises a selection of never-before-exhibited drawings from the archives of the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative, which have inspired some of Kenojuak’s most emblematic prints in stonecut, lithography and etching. Kenojuak Ashevak: Life and Legacy is curated by Louisa Parr (Kenojuak Cultural Centre) and William Huffman (West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative). This project was the inaugural exhibition at the Kenojuak Cultural Centre in Cape Dorset, Nunavut and is the first exhibition produced in the Canadian Arctic, for circulation nationally.

Exhibition organizers and the ODD Gallery acknowledge the generous contribution of lead supporter Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage. Additional support from the Government of Nunavut through its Department of Culture and Heritage, has made possible this national touring exhibition and associated publication.