The Inuit Art Quarterly, the world’s only magazine dedicated to the advancement and appreciation of Inuit and circumpolar Indigenous arts, has received two 2019 National Magazine Award nominations.

This year, the IAQ’s issue Exchange: Points of Contact has been nominated for Issue Grand Prix while Publisher and Inuit Art Foundation Executive Director Alysa Procida is nominated for Publisher Grand Prix. This marks the first time in the publication’s history the IAQ has been nominated in these two categories.

Featuring a bold and playful cover image by Saskatoon-based Tarralik Duffy, the Exchange issue addressed how globalization and technological changes have created new artistic environments, bringing with them a host of new tools for communication that have shaped, and continue to shape, Inuit art. Duffy’s humours phonetic pun Itii Pau overlays the Inuktitut syllabics “ᐃ” (“I” ) and "ᑏ" (“Tii”), on Steven Spielberg's E.T. When read together, Duffy’s word play literally translates to “blow smoke out of your rectum,” a phrase the artist confessed she would tell new teachers meant “hello” in Inuktitut while growing up in Salilq (Coral Harbour), NU. This calculated use of humour reflects a driving theme behind the issue: the sophisticated, humourous and critical ways Inuit artists use their work to negotiate the increasing presence of southern culture.


Cover of Inuit Art Quarterly's Winter 2018 issue, featuring Itii Pau (2018) by Tarralik Duffy (b. 1979 Salliq)

The issue includes features on Inuit pop art by writer, curator and filmmaker Cass Gardner, Gabrielle Montpetit’s in-depth look at how buy/sell groups and Facebook are facilitating new digital exchanges that are transforming the Inuit art economy and an interview by Clayton Windatt with artists Kablusiak and Jesse Tungilik on artist residencies. A Profile on emerging painter Megan Kyak-Monteith, a Portfolio of collaborative works by Qavavau Manumie, Jack Nuviyak (1971-2016), Jenna Broomfield and Malaya Bishop, among others, and five leading contemporary Canadian artists—Marcel Dzama, Luis Jacob, Skawennati, Brenda Draney and Shary Boyle—on their favourite works round out the issue.

The Exchange issue is nominated alongside Istw, Alberta Views, Prairie Fire & Contemporary Verse, The Site Magazine, Canadian Art, BESIDE, University of Toronto Magazine and Nouveau Projet.

Procida, who has been the IAQ’s publisher since 2015, has overseen the magazine during a period of rapid growth at a time when many print publications globally are facing significant financial change. Under her tenure, the IAQ has increased its readership by an unprecedented 2,237% and quadrupled the organizations operating budget. Today, the IAQ has more readers than at any time in its thirty-two year history.

Under her leadership, the IAQ successfully launched a companion online publication in 2017: the IAQ Profiles. This one-of-a-kind platform, built in mirrored high- and low-broadband environments, was created to showcase individual artist profiles while providing Inuit artists themselves with a suite of professional development resources. That same year, with Editorial Director Britt Gallpen, Procida oversaw the full redesign of the magazine in conjunction with the Inuit Art Foundation’s 30th anniversary in 2017 and the magazine’s first National Magazine Award in 2018. Procida is nominated alongside Giles Gagnier of Canadian Geographic and Ken Hunt of Toronto Life.

The IAQ team would like to extend our sincere thanks and congratulations to all the writers and artists who contributed to our 2018 editorial calendar, for sharing their enthusiasm, passion and creativity in our pages.

Award winners will be announced at a ceremony on May 31, 2019.