53/150: Shuvinai Ashoona

Contemporary Inuk artist Shuvinai Ashoona (1961) is on exhibition in New York with new works this fall, a celebration of her role as the third generation in a dynasty of renowned female artists from Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset), a hamlet on the southern tip of Baffin Island in the Canadian arctic.

The arts heritage of that region of Nunavut is exceptionally deep and strong: Ashoona’s famous family includes her grandmother Pitseolak Ashoona, her mother Sorosilutu Ashoona, and her cousin, the late Annie Pootoogook – from whom she learned her craft. She and Pootoogook were among the first to take Inuit art to the international stage.

The third-generation artist has generated international notice since the 1990s for her detailed, colorful drawings that meld fantastical elements with depictions of contemporary Inuit life, historical events, and the northern landscape.

Earlier this year, Ashoona’s work was featured in the group exhibition Once a Myth, Becoming Real, at the 14th Gwangju Biennale in the Republic of Korea. The installation at LeeKangHa Art Museum was the first major exhibition of Inuit art in the country. In 2022, her work was featured in the 59th Venice Biennale exhibition The Milk of Dreams.

Ashoona’s 2019 exhibition Mapping Worlds toured nationally after opening at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto. She has been included in major exhibitions such as the “18th Biennale of Sydney: All Our Relations” (2012), and “Oh, Canada” (2012) at Mass MoCA. Ashoona’s first international solo exhibition took place in 2020 at Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Arts. Her work can be found in many collections including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Canadian Museum of History, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the National Museum of the American Indian, USA.

A long history/profile by the Art Canada Institute, here.

Shuvinai Ashoona at Dorset Fine Arts, here.

At the Inuit Art Foundation (including video), here.

At the National Gallery of Canada, here.

Canadian Encyclopedia, here.

This is #53 in the series 150 Artists, an ongoing series on Canadian artists you should know.

A note on the work at the top of this post: Moving with our campsites (traditional movers), 2023, colored pencil and ink on paper 50.25×96 inches. From the current exhibition at Fort Gansevoort gallery, NYC (on through Nov. 4)

“Measuring eight feet long, the drawing manifests as a personal encyclopedia of everyday visual wonders and distinctive cultural references. For example, in a boat on the far-right edge of the drawing, a seated woman is seen from behind, carrying her child in the pouch of an amauti parka, a customary Inuit clothing design that allows a mother to move her baby from her back to her front for breastfeeding while protecting the child from the elements. . . . And while Ashoona’s imagery of nomadic existence conjures and celebrates an indigenous lifestyle that has endured for generations, she is conscious of the systems of modern correspondence, here signaled by her inclusion of the postal code signage on the blue sail.” – From exhibition notes.