Feature Interview: The life and work of Itee Pootoogook 1951-2014

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic @arctic_eq
Posted: Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at 15:52 — Last Updated: Friday, March 16, 2018 at 10:27
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Itee Pootoogook (1951 – 2014) ‘Carving with an axe,’ 2006 coloured pencil & graphite, 22 x 29.75 in (paper) (Courtesy of Marion Scott Gallery)

Itee Pootoogook (1951 – 2014) untitled (house), 2012 coloured pencil & graphite, 19.5 x 25.5 in. (paper) (Courtesy of Marion Scott Gallery)

Itee Pootoogook (1951 – 2014), After Sunset, 2011 coloured pencil & graphite, 19.5 x 25.5 in. (paper) (Courtesy of Marion Scott Gallery)

Canada recently lost one of its major Inuit artists when Itee Pootoogook passed away in March at the age of 63.

Pootoogook did much of his work in Cape Dorset, an Inuit community in Canada’s eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut.

His work was especially well known for its clean lines and realistic representations of contemporary Inuit life.

Pootoogook was often compared to Canadian art icons like Alex Colville and Christopher Pratt.

To hear more about Pootoogook’s work and his legacy, Eye on the Arctic’s Eilís Quinn spoke to Robert Kardosh from the Marion Scott Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Related Link:
Marion Scott Gallery

art, Cape Dorset, Inuit, Nunavut

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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Canada recently lost one of its major Inuit artists when Itee Pootoogook passed away in March at the age of 63.

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

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