Mary Yuusipik Singaqti was born in 1936 in a remote region north of Baker Lake. She was part of the last generation to live a traditional inland nomadic lifestyle. This lifestyle was primarily based around fishing and hunting caribou. Singaqti eventually moved to Baker Lake due to famine. She came from an artistic family, with several of her siblings and her mother also working as successful artists. 

Singaqti was encouraged to work with textiles and wallhangings by her mother Jessie Oonark. Though she is primarily known for her textile works, she also produced carvings and coloured pencil drawings. She began her artistic career with smaller carvings in 1964, eventually moving to larger scale stone in the 1980s. 

The Winnipeg Art Gallery held Singaqti’s first solo exhibition in 2019. This exhibition was dedicated to demonstrating the skillful ways in which Singaqti represented Inuit traditions and stories. In preparation for the exhibition, Singaqti told curator Darlene C. Wight: “I want the younger generation to know about me, how we used to live [and] how life was before”.

Singaqti passed in 2017, but her memory lives on through her art.

Exhibitions

• Keeping Our Stories Alive: An Exhibition of the Art and Crafts from Dene and Inuit of Canada, 1995, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A
• Inuit Art from the Canadian Arctic, 1994, Bayly Art Museum, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.A.
• Northern Lights: Inuit Textile Art from the Canadian Arctic, 1993, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
• Women of the North: An Exhibition of art by Inuit Women of the Canadian Arctic, 1992, Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
• Baker Lake Sculpture, 1989, The Upstairs Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Oonark's Family, 1987, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Keewatin Sculpture: Reflections of the Spirit, 1986, Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia
• Noel au Chateau - Art Inuit de la collection Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Macdonald Stewart Art Center, Guelph, Ontario, presented at Chateau Dufresne, Montreal, Quebec
• Wallhangings, 1980, Theo Waddington, New York, New York, U.S.A.
• Baker Lake Arts - Prints, Sculpture, Wallhangings, 1979, Playhouse Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.
• Baker Lake Prints and Wallhangings, 1979, Inuit Art Gallery, San Fransisco, California, U.S.A.
• Baker Lake Wallhangings, 1979, Elca London Studio, Montreal, Quebec
• Baker Lake Wallhangings, 1979, Security Pacific Bank, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
• Spirits and Dreams - Arts of the Inuit of Baker Lake, 1979, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, Ontario
• Keewatin Wallhangings 1979-1981, 1981, Canadian Arctic Producers Ltd., Ottawa, Ontario
• The Zazelenchuk Collection of Eskimo Art, 1978, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Baker Lake Wallhangings 1978, 1978, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
• Eskimo Wallhangings, 1974, McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario
• Crafts from Arctic Canada/Artisanat de l'arctique canadien, 1974, Canadian Eskimo Arts Council, Ottawa, Ontario
• Eskimo Carvers of Keewatin, N.W.T., 1964, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Collections

• Inuit Cultural Institute, Rankin Inlet, Northwest Territories
• Macdonald Stewart Art Center, Guelph, Ontario
• University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Awards

• 1993: Awarded second prize at the Keewatin Arts and Crafts Festival in the wallhanging competition