How Did Kananginak Pootoogook Help Open Kinngait’s First Print Shop? Iqqaumaviit? Remembering the Inuit Behind the Co-ops
Inuit Art Foundation | October 07, 2021
Categories: news
How Did Kananginak Pootoogook Help Open Kinngait’s First Print Shop?
Historically non-Inuit have been celebrated almost exclusively for the establishment and upkeep of Inuit artist co-operatives. Certainly, men like James Houston, OC, and Father Henri Tardy were integral in the training and development of printmaking and art studios in the Northwest Territories during the 1900s. However, without the hard work and art created by Inuit artists there would be no co-operatives. To celebrate the legacies of early twentieth-century Inuit artists we explore the roles of Inuit in the early days of co-operative art movements in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU; Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, QC; Puvirnituq, Nunavik, QC; Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake), NU, and Ulukhaktok (Holman), Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT.
Nunatsiavut, the Inuit region of Arctic Labrador, is not represented in this Portfolio because they were not recognized as Inuit by the federal government until the 1980s. As a result, artist co-operatives were not provided the same funding or support in the region. Despite this injustice, Nunatsiavummiut were and continue to be prolific artists with a growing representation in the international art community.
