First Name: Shuvinai

Last Name: Ashoona

Name in Syllabics: ᓱᕕᓂ ᐊᓱᓇ

Date of Birth: 1961

Place of Birth: Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut

Sex: Female

Disc Number: E7-1954

Art Media: Drawing, printmaking.

Bio:

Shuvinai Ashoona was born in 1961 in Kinngait, Nunavut, to a family of well-known artists. Her father, Kuiga Ashoona, was a hunter and master carver; her mother, Sorosilooto Ashoona, was a graphic artist; her grandmother, Pitseolak Ashoona, was a renowned artist in drawing and printmaking.

For over two decades, Ashoona worked daily at Kinngait Studios, Cape Dorset. In 1997, her work was included in the Cape Dorset annual print collection. Ashoona uses pen, ink, coloured pencils and oil sticks to create her detailed works. She started off with smaller drawings and etchings, depicting Northern landscapes, contemporary Inuit life, folklore, memories of the past and visions of the future. 

From the 2000s, Ashoona’s work became larger, more colourful, more complex and more personal. She began to expand her subject matter, deeply exploring her imagination. She applied more fantastical visions to her work, combining the real with the imagined.

In 1999, Ashoona’s works were featured alongside her grandmother Pitseolak and her aunt Napachie Pootoogook’s works in the McMichael Canadian Collection’s exhibition “Three Women, Three Generations”.

In 2001, the National Gallery of Canada purchased six of Ashoona’s landscape works.

In 2008, Ashoona collaborated with John Noestheden, a Regina-based artist, on a large banner “Earth and Sky” that became part of a public art installation at the Basel Art Fair. It was also exhibited at the 18th Sydney Biennale in 2012 and at an exhibition in the National Gallery of Canada in 2013 entitled “Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art.”

Since 2009, Ashoona has been regularly collaborating with Shary Boyle, a Toronto-based artist, on drawings, paintings, and sculptures. Their work was presented at the Justina Barnicke Gallery at Hart House in Toronto and at the travelling exhibition “Universal Cobra.”

Ashoona is the subject of the 2010 documentary film “Ghost Noise.”

Exhibitions

2001: "Art by Women: An Investigation of Inuit Sculpture and Graphics", Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2005: "Unique Visions", Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2006 - 2007: "Ashoona: Third Wave", Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

2006 - 2007: "Shuvinai Ashoona: Time Interrupted", Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2007: "3 Cousins: Annie Pootoogook, Shuvinai Ashoona, Siassie Kenneally", Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2008: "Citysky: The Basel Project, Shuvinai Ashoona and John Noestheden", Basel, Switzerland and Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2009: "Shuvinai Ashoona Drawings", Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

2009: "Noise Ghost: Shary Boyle and Shuvinai Ashoona", Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2009 - 2010: "Uuturautiit: Cape Dorset Celebrates 50 Years of Printmaking", National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

2011: "Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection", Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2012: "Earth and Sky: Shuvinai Ashoona & John Noestheden", 18th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

2012: "Oh, Canada", Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, Massachusetts, USA

2012: "Shuvinai Ashoona: Ground", MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

2012: "Shuvinai’s World(s)", Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2012: "Sky Ecchymosis: Women of the Arctic", La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

2012: "Sleep of Reason", Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

2013: "Exploring Cape Dorset Art: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? Identity in Contemporary Cape Dorset Art", McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada

2013: "Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art", National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

2013: "Takujaksait / Something to See", Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum, Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada

2014 - 2015: "Shine a Light: Canadian Biennale 2014", National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canad

2014: "Shuvinai Ashoona: Woven Thoughts", Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2014: "Unsettled Landscapes",  SITElines: New Perspectives on Art of the Americas, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

2015: "Universal Cobra: Shuvinai Ashoona & Shary Boyle", Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Pierre-Francois Ouellette art contemporain, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

2017: "Curiosities: Shuvinai Ashoona", Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2017: "Earthlings", Esker Foundation, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

2018: "Manif D’art", The Quebec City Biennial, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

2019 - 2020: "NSCAD Lithography Workshop: Contemporary Editions", Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

2019: "RBC Lounge", Masterpiece International Art Fair, London, United Kingdom

2019: "Shuvinai Ashoona: Mapping Worlds", Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2019: "The Co-op", Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2019: "We End Up Dreaming: Shuvinai Ashoona Feheley Fine Arts", Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2020: "Shuvinai Ashoona: Holding on to Universes", CCA: Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, Scotland

Collections

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

BMO Financial Group, Corporate Art Collection, Canada

Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Global Affairs Canada, incorporated as the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

The Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada

Fidelity Investments Corporate Art Collection, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

George Brown College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Hart House Collection, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Art Gallery of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

TD Bank Group Corporate Collection, Canada

Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Art Museum at the University of Toronto - Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Accomplishments

2010: Featured in Annette Mangaard's film Kinngait: Riding Light into the World

2010: Subject of the film Ghost Noise directed by Marcia Connolly

2016: Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts

2017: REVEAL Indigenous Art Awards Laureate, The Hnatyshyn Foundation

2018: Recipient of the Gershon Iskowitz Price

Articles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuvinai_Ashoona
https://aci-iac.ca/art-books/shuvinai-ashoona/biography
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/shuvinai-ashoona 
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and-architecture/shuvinai-ashoona-inuit-feminism-goes-global/article4526420/
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shuvinai-ashoona-we-end-up-dreaming-300781191.html
https://www.gallerieswest.ca/magazine/stories/shuvinai-ashoona/
https://believermag.com/an-interview-with-shuvinai-ashoona/
http://arcticjournal.ca/featured/shuvinai-ashoona/
https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/exhibit-by-kinngait-artist-shuvanai-ashoona-to-open-in-glasgow-next-month/
https://www.cbc.ca/arts/exhibitionists/with-this-print-shuvinai-ashoona-captures-the-breath-and-soul-of-the-earth-at-peggy-s-cove-1.5412821
https://ago.ca/press-release/shuvinai-ashoona-wins-2018-gershon-iskowitz-prize