(ta•ku•shur•nai•tuk)

n.

1. Things Never Seen Before

2. Aisa Qumaaluk Sivuaraapik and Others

In 1967, in the community of Puvirnituq, on the northeast coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavik (Northern Quebec), a contest was organized by University of California anthropologist Nelson Graburn in an attempt to loosen the confines of a southern market that favoured scenes of everyday life, hunting, fishing, and animals in Inuit sculptures and carvings. By contrast, artwork depicting takushurnaituk—things never seen before, such as human-animal hybrids, sexuality, and spiritual subject matter—were entered in the competition and judged by appointed local artists. Since then, Puvirnituq artists, including Aisa Qumaaluk Sivuaraapik (1925-1980), became known for challenging the parameters of Inuit art. Sivuaraapik’s impressive soapstone sculpture Ijitualik (One-Eyed Figure) (1969) was eventually acquired by Ottawa art collectors O.J. and Isobel Firestone.

This exhibition takes Sivuaraapik’s one-eyed sculpture from the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art as a point of departure to explore depictions of characters such as Tunnituarruk, who angrily bangs her head inside empty igloos, or Iqalunappa, the half-fish who must be appeased for bounteous harvest from the sea. These works from the collections of the Musée de la civilisation (Québec) and the Carleton University Art Gallery (Ottawa), exemplify the diversity of themes in Puvirnituq sculpture that emerged from the late 1960s to the 1980s.

Artists: Bobby Najummialu Novalinga, Levi Alaasuaq Pirti (Smith), Mattiusi Manukuluk Qilurqi, Mattiusi Ilimasaut Amarualik, Aisa Qumaaluk Sivuaraapik, Aliva Tuktu Tulugak

Curator: Catherine Sinclair

The curator would like to acknowledge Avataq Cultural institute (Montreal) for their research assistance in relation to this exhibition. The Ottawa Art Gallery gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of our members, donors and sponsors, as well as the City of Ottawa, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. We are also grateful for the support of Downtown Rideau BIA.

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