Ruth Annaqtuusi was born in 1934 in the Kazan River area. Adopted as an infant by her uncle, she grew up in Baker Lake to the north, where her guardian served as an assistant to the resident Anglican missionary. As a child Annaqtuusi enjoyed hearing the stories and experiences of Inuit who came in from the land to trade and visit the mission. She began making drawings in the early 1970s with the encouragement of the Butlers, transforming her memories and the stories she had heard during her childhood into two-dimensional images of astonishing energy and verve. Several of her drawings were subsequently turned into limited edition prints, including her famous 1982 image, Marble Island. In 1986 she contributed images and text to the book Qikaaluktut: Images of Inuit Life, on which she collaborated with the writer David Pelly. Although she has also made several wallhangings, these are far fewer in number than her drawings and prints. Essentially retired from active artistic life, today Annaqtuusi produces drawings only infrequently.

The fact that Annaqtuusi did not come from the Back River area, as did most of Baker Lake's prominent two-dimensional artists, may account in part for the singularity of her vision and style. Never decorative and often intensely expressionistic, her works are loosely composed and usually dramatically coloured. Many compositions incorporate landscape motifs, and most contain crowds of people and animals. Many drawings also feature additional ghostly spirits, often giving her work a decidedly ghoulish flavour. Her most dramatic images consist of Bosch-like frenzies of gesturing figures and strange reversals: people walking on giant paddles, fish standing upright on human legs, and birds perched on human heads are some of the common sights.

Selected References
Qamanittuaq: Where the River Widens (1994), Judith Nasby, ed.
The Vital Vision: Ruth Annaqtuusi Tulurialik (1986), Marion Jackson
Qikaaluktut: Images of Inuit Life (1986), Ruth Annaqtuusi and David F. Pelly

Exhibitions

• 1987 Eskimo Art, Franz Bader Gallery
• A Culture on Paper: Baker Lake Drawings, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• A Family Tradition: Inuit Art from Canada's Arctic, Presented by Arctic Inuit Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
• A Woman's Vision, Art Space Gallery
• Arctic Spirit 35 Years of Canadian Inuit Art, Frye Art Museum
• Art of the Eskimo: Contemporary Sculpture & Drawings from the Canadian Arctic, Gallery 100 Hudson
• Art/Facts, McMaster Art Gallery
• Baker Lake - Uncatalogued Prints 1979-1985 A retrospective collection exhibited at selected galleries, organized by, Canadian Arctic Producers
• Baker Lake Drawings, The Upstairs Gallery
• Baker Lake Drawings, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Baker Lake Eskimo Drawings - Six Artists, The Upstairs Gallery
• Baker Lake Festival: Sculpture, Drawings, and Wallhangings, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Baker Lake Print Collection *71, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *72, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *73, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *75, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *77, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *80, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *83/84, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *85, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *86, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Collection *87, (annual collection)
• Baker Lake Print Retrospective: A Twenty Year Anniversary, The Upstairs Gallery
• Baker Lake Prints & Print-Drawings: 1970-1976, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Baker Lake Prints - Ten Year Retrospective, The Upstairs Gallery
• Baker Lake Prints 1985, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Baker Lake Prints and Drawings: 1970-1973, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Extension Services
• Baker Lake Prints and Print Drawings, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Baker Lake: Persistence of Old Memories, Brandon Allied Arts Council
• Building on Strengths: New Inuit Art from the Collection, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Cape Dorset Sculpture, McMaster Art Gallery
• Chisel and Brush/Le ciseau et la brosse, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
• Cold Stones, Warm Hearts: Inuit Art from the Northwest Territories, University of Richmond
• Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art of Canada, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, presented at the General Assembly Building, United Nations
• Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
• Contemporary Inuit Drawings, Muscarelle Museum of Art College of William and Mary
• Drawings and Selected Prints, Ruth Annaqtuusi Tulurialik, Baker Lake, The Upstairs Gallery
• Drawings by Anguhadluk, Annaqtussi, Kigusiuq, Kukiiyaut of Baker Lake, N.W.T., Robertson Galleries
• Drawings from Baker Lake, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Eskimo Fantastic Art, Gallery 111, School of Art, University of Manitoba
• Immaginario Inuit Arte e cultura degli esquimesi canadesi, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
• Inuit Art in the 1970s, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre
• Inuit Graphics and Drawings from 1959-1990, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Graphics from the Past, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Graphics Through the Year: Rare Prints from the Arctic, Arctic Artistry
• Inuit Masterworks: Selections from the Collection of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, McMichael Canadian Collection
• Inuit Myths, Legends and Songs, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Inuit Traditions in Graphics: 1961-1987, Arctic Artistry
• La deesse inuite de la mer/The Inuit Sea Goddess, Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal
• Polar Vision: Canadian Eskimo Graphics, Jerusalem Artists' House Museum
• Qamanittuaq: The Art of Baker Lake, National Gallery of Canada
• Qamanittuaq: Where the River Widens Drawings by Baker Lake Artists, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
• Qikaaluktut: Images of Inuit Life Drawings by Ruth Annaqtuusi of Baker Lake, Houston North Gallery
• Shamans and Spirits: Myths and Medical Symbolism in Eskimo Art, Canadian Arctic Producers and the National Museum of Man
• Sojourns to Nunavut: Contemporary Inuit Art from Canada, at Bunkamura Art Gallery, presented by the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology and The McMichael Canadian Art Collection
• The Coming and Going of the Shaman: Eskimo Shamanism and Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Inuit Amautik: I Like My Hood To Be Full, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Inuit Print/L'estampe inuit, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the National Museum of Man
• The Lindsay and Swartz Collections: New Acquisitions, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The People Within - Art from Baker Lake, Art Gallery of Ontario
• The Spirit World - 1977 to 1990: Baker Lake Clyde River and Pangnirtung Prints. A retrospective collection exhibited at selected commercial galleries, organized by, Canadian Arctic Producers
• The Swinton Collection of Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• The Vital Vision: Drawings by Ruth Annaqtussi Tulurialik, Art Gallery of Windsor
• The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Ulu/Inua: Form and Fantasy in Eskimo Art, Casino Gallery, Ravinia Park
• Uumajut: Animal Imagery in Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• We Lived by Animals/Nous Vivions des Animaux, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in cooperation with the Department of External Affairs
• Works on Paper from the Permanent Collection of Inuit Art, Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec
• Works on Paper from the Permanent Collection of Inuit Art, Canadian Guild of Craft Quebec

Collections

• Amway Environmental Foundation Collection, Ada
• Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor
• Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
• Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec, Montreal
• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull
• Confederation Centre of the Arts, Charlottetown
• Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener
• Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury
• Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
• McMaster University Art Gallery, Hamilton
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg
• Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal, Montreal
• Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
• Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
• University of Alberta, Edmonton
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg

Publications

• TAIPSUMANE — A Collection of Labrador Stories, Author: Kalleo, Josephina, Publication: Nain: Torngasok Cultural Centre (1984)