Inuit artists reflect on their art,
their culture and their language

Video archives

Discover the complexity and realities surrounding Inuit art through the personal testimony of the creators themselves.
Follow Eye on the Arctic journalist Eilís Quinn as she explores the world of some of the most renowned Inuit artists.
 
The iconic prints of late Canadian artist Kenojuak Ashevak (1927-2013) almost single-handedly came to define Arctic art both in Canada and on the world stage.
Her work is found in prestigious museum and private collections around the world. Her images have been featured on everything from stamps and Canadian currency, to the stained glass windows at John Bell Chapel in Oakville, Ontario. In this 2010 conversation filmed at her home in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, Ashevak sat down with Eye on the Arctic’s Eilís Quinn to discuss her work, her success and what she really thinks about the next generation of northern artists.
Artist Jolly Atagooyuk was born in Qikiqtarjuaq but lives and works in the community of Pangnirtung in Canada’s eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut.
He’s a longtime part of the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts and is known for both his drawing and his printmaking. In this 2011 conversation with Eye on the Arctic’s Eilís Quinn, Atagooyuk talks about how Nunavut’s wildlife sparks his imagination and how different printing techniques help images come alive on the page.
The art and artists from Canada’s Arctic are famous around the world.
Starting in the 1960s, the print programs set up in Inuit communities like Cape Dorset, Baker Lake, Ulukhaktok (Holman) and Puvirnituq cultivated some of Canada’s most well-known Canadian artists and printmakers of the 20th century including people like Kenojuak Ashevak, Helen Kalvak and Jessie Oonark. The Cape Dorset print program is still going strong, but over time, many of the other Arctic print programs have folded or scaled back. But despite this, important work is still being done in many of these communities. In this installment of Eye on the Arctic’s ongoing online series looking at the art and artists of Canada’s North, we take you into studio with Jimmy Kamimmalik, an artist and printmaker working in Baker Lake, a community in Canada’s eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut. During our 2016 visit, Kamimmalik talks about the community’s artists, images and how the changing Nunavut landscape inspired one of his recent works.
Louie Nigiyok is a printmaker and artist from the Inuit community of Ulukhaktok (Holman), in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
Eye on the Arctic’s Eilís Quinn sat with him in 2012 to discuss his art, his inspirations and the rich history of Holman's print program.
Pangnirtung’s art centre is unique in Canada’s Arctic.
This small community in Canada’s eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut is well known, not just for its printmaking program, but also for its weavers. Andrew Qappik is one of the most well-known artists working in the community and has designed images for everything from tapestries and prints, to the Nunavut Coat of Arms. In this 2011 conversation with Eye on the Arctic’s Eilís Quinn, Qappik talks about how he translates the traditional culture he grew up with into his art and how the Arctic landscape continues to inspire him.
The Cape Dorset art story has been told thousands of times over. But no matter who tells it and how, the printers who actually produce the physical lithographs and stone cuts, often get left out of the narrative.
But many art experts consider these printers the unsung heros of the Cape Dorset success story. So Eye on the Arctic wanted its audience to meet one. Niveaksie Quvianaqtuliaq has been working at Kinngait Studios for almost two decades. Here, in a 2010 conversation with Eye on the Arctic's Eilís Quinn, Quvianaqtuliaq explains how he, and his fellow printers, work to create the perfect image and what working on the Cape Dorset print collection has meant to him both professionally and personally.
Carving is usually the first thing that comes to mind when people think about northern art. But just like other art forms in the Arctic, carving is evolving and changing.
Toonoo Sharky is a longtime carver based in Cape Dorset, Nunavut and has developed an instantly recognizable style that’s become a favourite of collectors. In fact, it’s hard to find an Inuit art gallery in Canada, that doesn’t have his work as part of their collection. In this 2010 conversation with Eye on the Arctic’s Eilís Quinn, Sharky talked about his craft and his hopes for the next generation of northern carvers.
There's little consensus on what the future of Inuit art will or should look like. But there's one thing almost everyone can agree on -- Ningeokuluk Teevee will certainly be part of it.
Her work has broad appeal; collectors of traditional Inuit art snap up her work depicting ancient legends while those looking for edgier northern art gravitate to her drawings depicting contemporary life in the North. She admits she's not a big fan of doing interviews when everything she has to say is already out there in her work. But in 2010, she sat down with Eye on the Arctic's Eilís Quinn to discuss how climate change is affecting Cape Dorset and increasingly inspiring her art.
Artists often say they create art for themselves and don't care what other people think.
But when Eye on the Arctic's Eilís Quinn tracked down Jutai Toonoo working in Nunavut's Kinngait Studios in 2010, we got the sense that he really, really meant it. Toonoo used human imagery to explore identity issues and cultural conflict in the North for much of his career. But at the time of his sudden death in 2015, he'd begun exploring more personal themes in his work, like cancer, a disease that had begun to ravage friends and family members. Many experts say he produced some of the most provocative contemporary artwork to ever come out of the Arctic. In this no-holds-barred conversation, Toonoo talks us through his process, his inspiration and what he really thinks of the art world.
In the 20th century, print programs were established in several communities across the Canadian Arctic.
But Pangnirtung, Nunavut is the only community that, in addition to printmaking, also has an established weaving program, producing unique tapestries featuring everything from traditional Inuit culture to contemporary Nunavut. In this 2011 conversation, the then general manager of Pangnirtung's Uqqurmiut Arts and Crafts Centre speaks with Eye on the Arctic's Eilís Quinn about the work that goes into creating one of the community's signature tapestries.

In these past interviews, Inuit artists share their views on Inuit art, culture and language with Eye on the Arctic journalist Eilís Quinn.
 
Aqqaluk Lynge is a well-known poet and politician from Greenland.
In this 2010 interview with Eye on the Arctic journalist Eilís Quinn, Lynge, then also international chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, reads from his poem The Sound of my Song and discusses how standardizing the Inuit language writing system would increase Inuit political and cultural clout on the world stage and help heal the scars of colonialism across the Arctic.
Meet TuuMotz, one of the founders of Nuuk Posse, Greenland's seminal hip-hop group and now a solo artist.
In this 2010 interview, Eye on the Arctic journalist Eilís Quinn talks to TuuMotz about his life, why rapping in the Inuit language is so important to him and how hip-hop can build bridges between young people across the Arctic.
Art in the North is changing.
While traditional work and themes are still popular around the world, Inuit artists are increasingly interested in creating art that reflects today's reality in the Arctic. In this 2010 documentary report, Eye on the Arctic's Eilís Quinn travelled to Cape Dorset, Nunavut to speak with the Arctic artists whose work is exploring the rapid social and environmental change in their communities.
Can a pan-Inuit dialect ensure the survival of the Inuit language across the Arctic?
In this 2010 documentary, Radio Canada International journalist Eilís Quinn follows the unique linguistic journey of an aspiring MC from Nunavut. She also interviews Canadian, Alaskan and Greenland Inuit from the world of hip-hop, theatre, film, literature and linguistics, finding unique perspectives on the future of the Inuit language. She examines the truths, divisions and controversy behind this highly complex issue. Some think standardizing the Inuit language is the solution, others worry standardization will erode regional Inuit cultures and kill off local Inuit dialects for good.

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

Eilís Quinn is an award-winning journalist and manages Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic news cooperation project. Eilís has reported from the Arctic regions of all eight circumpolar countries and has produced numerous documentary and multimedia series about climate change and the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the North.

Her investigative report "Death in the Arctic: A community grieves, a father fights for change," about the murder of Robert Adams, a 19-year-old Inuk man from Arctic Quebec, received the silver medal for “Best Investigative Article or Series” at the 2019 Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The project also received an honourable mention for excellence in reporting on trauma at the 2019 Dart Awards in New York City.

Her report “The Arctic Railway: Building a future or destroying a culture?” on the impact a multi-billion euro infrastructure project would have on Indigenous communities in Arctic Europe was a finalist at the 2019 Canadian Association of Journalists award in the online investigative category.

Her multimedia project on the health challenges in the Canadian Arctic, "Bridging the Divide," was a finalist at the 2012 Webby Awards.

Her work on climate change in the Arctic has also been featured on the TV science program Découverte, as well as Le Téléjournal, the French-Language CBC’s flagship news cast.

Eilís has worked for media organizations in Canada and the United States and as a TV host for the Discovery/BBC Worldwide series "Best in China."

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