Ilumigarjuk Ayla Kreelak (traditionally spelled as Ilumiraarjuk Qilak) is a graphic artist from Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake), NU, who makes comics that meld contemporary Inuit life with pop culture. Kreelak also has a multidisciplinary artistic practice where she paints, sews, knits, crochets and is learning how to create works with 3D modelling software to prototype future art projects. She primarily uses digital software to create most of her graphics.
Kreelak’s initial interest in drawing started in elementary school when she skipped grade four and was exposed to drawings made by the fifth graders. “I would see their drawings on the wall and wonder, how can I make that better?” [1] she recalls. “I also saw the world as it was, and wished to capture it so." Though drawing paper was a rarity in her household, she was resourceful and fervently practiced sketching using any materials available. Kreelak honed her skills through teenagehood and began making comics in 2018. “It all started when I read the news that Marvel comics was going to debut their first Inuk superhero named Snowguard, also known as Amka Aliyak from Panniqtuq (Pangirtung), NU, which was where my dad grew up. It's why I'm making comics today.”
During Kreelak’s last month of high school she got her big break—a teacher showed interest in her comics and displayed them in the school hallway, which led to an interview with Nunatsiaq News the next week. In 2021 she became Nunatsiaq News’ resident comic artist at the age of 20, making exclusive comics for the publication on a weekly basis. Kreelak is the second-ever resident comic artist at the Iqaluit, NU-based weekly newspaper, reviving the role after Alootook Ipellie made comics for the publication in the 1990s; Thor Simonsen also published some comics for Nunatsiaq News in the early-2000s. [2] [3]
A number of Kreelak’s comic strips have been published, including the satirical Smidge and Friends which chronicles the daily life of Smidge, a stout alien clad with a blue helmet, red shirt and bright yellow pants, and their human friends. Kreelak’s characters are bold and graphic, thickly outlined and bursting with solid, vibrant colours. Her spin-off series Smidge’s Space Story goes into the main character’s backstory, inspired by the alleged UFO sightings in Qamani’tuaq that made the news in the mid-2000s and early 2010s. [4] “They started off as funny comics and eventually I did what I could to create an actual storyline from them,” she says. Kreelak’s characters find humour in mundane conversations that are relatable for both those who live in the North and South.
Kreelak’s work has also been featured in the Root & STEM magazine and in 2023, she won First Place in the Best Editorial Cartoon category at the Quebec Community Newspapers Association (QCNA) Awards. [5] Looking forward to the future, she has plans to reinvigorate Qamani’tuaq’s growing artistic community by helping to create more opportunities close to home. “I want to start a grassroots support [organization] for our local artists because I know that we have the space and the artists to do more local events to keep supporting our artists.”