Conversations: Activating Inuit Art Sovereignty

I was born in an iglu on the sea ice while my parents were making their journey to Nauyaat, Nunavut from Harbour Islands by dog team. I am a residential school survivor. It makes me live in two worlds Inuit and the Western style. I am the daughter of the late Marc Tungilik from Nauyaat, Nunavut, who was a well-known carver, both nationally and internationally. My first job included buying and shipping Inuit art, and my world has been surrounded by Inuit art since birth, and I too am an artist and collector.

Theresie Tungilik is Advisor for Arts & Traditional Economy, Department of Economic Development and Transportation, Government of Nunavut since 1999. She is also Chair of the Planning and Management Committee for the Ukkusiksalik National Park, Nunavut, and she has been on the National Board of Directors for CARFAC since 2017, serving as the Executive Council as Vice President since 2019. Theresie is Director of the arts market for the Kivalliq Trade Show Committee, and one of the Indigenous Language Keepers of the Advisory Circle for Qaumajuq. Her current board work includes the Indigenous Advisory Circle for Indigenous Intellectual Property, Governance, Artists’ Resale Right and Observer for Artists Rights. Her museum work includes: Arctic Indigenous Advisory Circle for Qaumajuq at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Board of Governors for the Winnipeg ART Gallery and Qaumajuq, Reconciliation Council for Canadian Museums Association, and Inuit repatriation expert for The African Museum of Belgium. Theresie’s past work includes: Founder, Inuit Art Society; Municipal Councillor (three terms: 2014-2020); Board for Directors, Inuit Art Foundation; Committee Member, Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation; Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council; and Board Member, Canada Council for the Arts.

Photo courtesy: Theresie Tungilik ©Theresie Tungilik

Contributor: Dawn Biddison
Source: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska

Emily Laurent Henderson is a Greenlandic and Settler writer and arts administrator based in Toronto, ON. Her work has been featured in the Inuit Art Quarterly, C Magazine, Studio Magazine, and ImagineNATIVE. Immersed in her community in Toronto, Emily is a proudly urban Inuk involved in grassroots programming and advocacy.

Photo courtesy Emily Laurent Henderson © Emily Laurent Henderson

Contributor: Dawn Biddison

Source: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska

Dr. Dalee Sambo Dorough (Inuit-Alaska) is Chair of Inuit Circumpolar Council, representing approximately 180,000 Inuit from the Russian Far East, Alaska, Canada and Greenland. She received a Ph.D. in Law from the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Law (2002). Presently, a Senior Scholar and Special Advisor on Arctic Indigenous Peoples, University of Alaska Anchorage. Dr. Dorough was Chairperson (2014) and an Expert Member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2010-2016); and is former co-Chair of the International Law Association Committee on Implementation of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and currently also serves as the Indigenous Arctic member of the Facilitative Working Group of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Photo courtesy Dalee Sambo Dorough ©Dalee Sambo Dorough

Contributor: Dawn Biddison

Source: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska