Prim (Pasa Mangiok) is a multimedia visual artist originally from Ivujivik, Nunavik, QC, who now lives in Montreal, QC. Her practice includes painting, printmaking, digital art, traditional art and sculpture.
Prim is a fifth-generation artist who grew up surrounded by art. Neither her parents nor grandparents influenced her decision to pursue art, but they did inspire her to make a career out of it: “I got into art because I adore it,” she says [1]. Nevertheless, both parents have had a hand in her artistic career; Prim credits her mother for supporting her emotionally and always making sure she had access to different materials, and her father, Thomassie Mangiok, with connecting her with opportunities in the art world, including work on his board game Nunami.
“I practice a lot of mediums,” says Prim when asked about the materials she uses. Over time, she taught herself to work in traditional pencil and paper sketches, digital drawing, ink, acrylic paint, and even clay, which Prim uses both to create sculptures and to give her canvases 3D effects in conjunction with paint. “Whenever I get a new medium, I just start to experiment with it,” she says about the process of learning all these different skills. “I experiment until I fully understand it, and then I create an art piece with it.” Her favourite medium to work in is watercolour, which she enjoys because of the control she has over the thin paint layers and how she can change the density and opacity of the paint at will.
Prim’s subject matters, like her medium choices, range widely. She created a collection of digital works focused on contemporary events like the Black Lives Matter Movement, and used traditional watercolour to depict the war in Ukraine and the effects of COVID-19 for the virtual exhibition ᓴᓇᓐᖑᐊᓂᑎᒍᑦ ᒪᑭᑕᖃᑎᒌᓐᓂᖅ | Sanannguanitigut Makitaqatigiinniq | Standing Together Through Art | Debout ensemble travers l’art from 2020-2022. She is also currently working on a series of artworks illustrating her emotions, which she completes weekly according to how she is feeling. These pieces vary in style just as much as the emotions they portray—some are line-art graphics and others are semi-realistic pieces done in acrylic.
Prim is currently studying at Nunavik Sivunitsavut in Montreal, QC. She also recently secured an internship with Aumaaggiivik, the Nunavik Arts Secretariat at Avataq Cultural Institute, and was accepted to the visual arts program at Dawson College in Montreal. “Art is a huge part of my life,” Prim says. “I don’t know what’s next, but I think I’ll never gonna stop making art."
This Profile was made possible through support from RBC Emerging Artists.