Jesse Tungilik

Jesse Tungilik is an interdisciplinary artist based in Iqaluit, NU. He has worked in many artistic disciplines, starting as a ceramicist at the Matchbox Gallery in Kangiqliniq (Rankin Inlet), NU, (beginning at just eight years old, and continuing into adulthood) before working in Mathew Nuqingaq’s Aayuraa Studio in Iqaluit, NU, as a jewellery artist specializing in baleen, muskox horn, ivory and silver. Tungilik also works in mixed-media sculpture, with pieces exhibited at the Nunavut Arts Festival, Great Northern Arts Festival, Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, and Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, among others; his work can be found in both public and private collections nationally and internationally, such as the Museum Cerny Inuit Collection in Bern, Switzerland.

Tungilik has served as both a Manager of Cultural Industries for the Government of Nunavut and as the Director of the Nunavut Art and Craft Association; he is currently the Chairperson for the Board of Trustees for the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit, NU, and is a member of the Inuit governance group of the Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership SSHRC Partnership Grant (2018–2025). Tungilik recently worked with the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Manitoba and the Government of Nunavut to commission new artwork and select collections-based work for installation in the new Iqaluit airport; he was one of two Artists in Residence for the 2018 TD North/South Artist Exchange, and is included in the inaugural exhibition of Qaumajuq at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.