GGArts Exhibition Featuring Shuvinai Ashoona Opens at the NGC
On November 15, an exhibition showcasing the winners of the 2024 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts (GGArts) opened at the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) in Ottawa, ON, and features work by Artistic Achievement award recipient Shuvinai Ashoona, RCA. This marks the third year the NGC has hosted the GGArts winners’ exhibition. Jocelyn Piirainen, Associate Curator, Indigenous Ways and Decolonization, at the NGC curated Ashoona’s works, which includes the two lithographs Quilt of Dreams (2009) and Tribute (2009). Ashoona’s win was announced earlier this year alongside seven other recipients recognized for their achievements and contributions to the arts in Canada. Ashoona’s award acknowledges her two-decade career and how it has helped change the public’s perception of Inuit art. The exhibition is on view until March 23, 2025.
Natashia Allakariallak’s Google Doodle Celebrates the Kayak
Natashia Allakariallak’s illustration celebrating the kayak was Google’s Doodle on the USA site on November 15. Commissioned by Google in honour of Native American Heritage Month, the illustration depicts a hunter paddling a kayak on the water in black and white under a deep red sun. It can be viewed on Google’s Doodle site. Based in Iqaluit, NU, Allakariallak is a multidisciplinary artist who explores themes of womanhood and Inuit traditions through various media including printmaking, jewellery and performance. In a Q&A with Google, Allakariallak expressed gratitude for being invited to collaborate on the piece and increase awareness about Inuit culture. “It is important that people know where the qajaq originates from,” she told Google. “I would like to honour the original design(s) and give credit where it is due.”
Jamesie Fournier Wins 2024 NorthWords NWT Book Award
Inuk writer Jamesie Fournier has won a 2024 NorthWords NWT Book Award for his debut poetry collection, Elements (2023). Elements follows its protagonist’s battle with their inner demons while living under a contemporary colonial system and features verses in both English and Inuktitut, translated by Jaypeetee Arnakak. Raised in Denendeh and based in Thebacha/Fort Smith, NT, Fournier is best known for his horror fiction, including The Other Ones (2022). Established in 2010, the NorthWords NWT Book Awards annually celebrate outstanding books published by authors from the Northwest Territories in two categories: the Book Award and the Youth Book Award. This year Richard van Camp won in the Youth Book Award category. Both winners receive a prize of $1,000.
Spirit Song Festival on in St. John’s, NL
This year’s Spirit Song Festival runs from November 19 to 23 in St. John’s, NL. The festival has run annually since 2013 and celebrates Indigenous art and culture. The event includes performances, artist residencies and knowledge sharing. Inuit Art Foundation’s Artist Services Manager Amy Norman moderated a panel with artists Billy Gauthier, currently based in North West River, NL; and Juliette Onalik. Gauthier and Onalik are also part of the group exhibition AtaKatigejut (Intertwined) at Eastern Edge Gallery. The exhibition celebrates the connections between people, land and wildlife and is on view until December 14. Artist and designer April Allen and Nunatsiavut drum-dancing and throat-singing group Kilautiup Songuninga were featured in an online artist talk and performance. The festival ends tomorrow with a full day of events, including a carving workshop led by Gauthier and a closing performance by Tanya Tagaq.
Uvagut TV to Expand Distribution to Over 10 Million Subscribers
Last month Uvagut TV, Canada’s first Inuktut TV station, announced its plan to expand its distribution on January 20, 2025, to include more than 10 million cable subscribers. The change was approved by the Canada Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) after a three-year submission process. Lucy Tulugarjuk, filmmaker, writer, actor and Executive Director of Nunavut Independent Television (NITV), which operates Uvagut TV, notes the expanded distribution approval as a historic moment for Inuit. “Uvagut TV is so important to help preserve our language, culture and heritage,” she told Crystal St. Pierre of Windspeaker.com. Uvagut TV launched in 2021, broadcasting original Inuit-made content in Inuktut on local cable networks. With the expansion, Uvagut TV will reach more Inuit, offer extended programming and increase job opportunities.
Inuit Designers Present at Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week
The 2024 Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week (VIFW) is running from November 20 to 23 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, BC. Inuvialuk and Gwich’in designer Taalrumiq/Christina King presented her collection “I.G. Love, Hope, Joy,” which celebrates the gifts of intergenerational knowledge through designs that incorporate traditional elements into the designer’s bold and colourful style. Beader and fashion designer April Allen, from Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, NL, will also present pieces at VIFW under her brand Stitched by April. Allen primarily works with beading and sealskin. The VIFW Marketplace also featured work by Inuvialuk beadwork artist Dixie Jenny Johnson from Fort McPherson, NT, alongside a number of artists from the Northwest Territories. This year marks the fifth VIFW, which has run every one to two years since the first festival in 2017.