Mark Igloliorte

Mark Igloliorte (1977- Corner Brook, NL) is an interdisciplinary artist who utilizes painting, as well as performance and installation. Igloliorte is described as an observational artist, who continuously frames and reframes the world around him, not settling on one perspective. His enthusiasm for skateboarding, kayaking, and surfing inform the perspectival shifts he employs in his work. Igloliorte first learned to skateboard at the age of 16 when his family moved back to Corner Brook, Newfoundland after having spent most of his childhood in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Since this point, skateboarding has played a prominent role in his practice-based art making. This is furthered by his interest in bringing to the surface the inherent indigenous roots of skateboarding, which is an offshoot of surfing, a practice started by the Na Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) [1].

Igloliorte’s practice-based approach to his work means that he works across many mediums, including observational painting and drawing as well as sculpture, performance, documentationand installation. He intertwines art historical references, practices and the materiality of his practice with his own experience of identity and culture [2]. In particular he investigates the paradoxes that lie within his merging of traditional and contemporary methods:

“I’m really thinking about what kind of culture you take on in your life and what kind of culture you’re born into... For example, skateboarding is something that I chose to pursue. But my family history, my being Inuit: this wasn’t my decision. I think it’s interesting to bring those two things together and see where they overlap [3].”

Igloliorte received his BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in 2003 a Bachelor’s of Education at Memorial University, St. John’s in 2005 and an MFA from Concordia University in 2010. Throughout his education, Igloliorte would constantly return to Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as other communities in the north, to stay connected with Inuit culture and to work with at-risk Inuit youth [4]. He first gained commercial recognition in Montréal where he participated in many solo and group exhibitions. Igloliorte has also participated in substantial national exhibitions such as, Beat Nation: Art, Hip Hop, and Aboriginal Culture (2012-2014) which travelled across Canada. He was a part of the first annual iNuit Blanche art festival which took place in October 2016. He has also received a number of awards and grants, including the Lillian Vineberg Award in Painting and Drawing. Igloliorte has travelled and lived throughout Canada as both an artist and educator. He currently resides in Vancouver, BC where he teaches at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.