Инуит суретшісі Кенужак Ашевак: Өнер және мәдениет иесі

Inuit artist

Kenojuak Ashevak, (Inuktitut: ᕿᓐᓄᐊᔪᐊᖅ ᐋᓯᕙᒃ, Qinnuajuaq Aasivak), (October 3, 1927 – January 8, 2013) is celebrated as a leading figure of modern Inuit art and one of Canada's preeminent artists and cultural icons. Part of a pioneering generation of Arctic creators, her career spanned more than five decades. She made graphic art, drawings and prints in stonecut, lithography and etching, beloved by the public, museums and collectors alike. Ashevak surmounted her circumstances to become an artist. Her range of mediums was exceptionally broad and included stained glass. Her achievements were honored. She was the first Inuit artist inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame (2001), was made an Officer of the Order of Canada (1967) and promoted to Companion in 1982. She received the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2008) and the Order of Nunavut (2012). Her work, with its superb design qualities, was used for Canadian stamps, coins and banknotes. For instance, in 1970, Canada Post placed her 1960 print Enchanted Owl on a stamp to commemorate the centennial of the Northwest Territories and in 2017, the Bank of Canada unveiled a commemorative $10 banknote in honour of Canada's 150th birthday featuring Ashevak's print Owl's Bouquet on the note. She received Honorary Doctorates from Queen's University (1991) and the University of Toronto (1992) and many films were made about her life.

Kenojuak described her work thus in 1980: "I just take these things out of my thoughts and out of my imagination, and I don't really give any weight to the idea of its being an image of something I am just concentrating on placing it down on paper in a way that is pleasing to my own eye, whether it has anything to do with subjective reality or not. And that is how I have always tried to make my images, and that is still how I do it, and I haven't really thought about it any other way than that. That is just my style, and is the way I started and the way I am today."

In 2004, Kenojuak designed a stained glass window for a chapel at Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario. The window, of an Arctic char along with an owl against a vibrantly blue background, is the first such window made by an Inuit artist; it was suggested by two Biblical stories in which Jesus feeds a large crowd of people with two fish and a few loaves of bread, which for Kenojuak thoroughly embodied the spirit of the Inuit community, where food is always shared. The window was dedicated by the Rt. Rev. Andrew Atagotaaluk, Bishop of the Arctic, on November 9, 2004, celebrating the 75th anniversary of John Bell Chapel.

Her work is included in the collection of the Art Museum The University of Toronto, St. Lawrence University, the National Gallery of Canada, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.

In 1967, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 1982. In 1970, Canada Post placed her 1960 print Enchanted Owl on a stamp to commemorate the centennial of the Northwest Territories. In 1974, she was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 1980, Canada Post used her 1961 print Return of the Sun on a seventeen cent stamp as part of its Inuit postage stamp series. In 1982, she has appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1991, she received an honorary doctorate from Queen's University. In 1992, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Toronto. In 1993, Canada Post featured 1969 drawing The Owl on a stamp for its Masterpieces of Canadian Art series.

The search engine Google showed a special doodle on its Canadian home page on October 3, 2014, for Kenojuak Ashevak's 87th Birthday. On October 19, 2016, a Heritage Minute was released by Historica Canada. For the first time ever, the Heritage Minute is also narrated in a language other than French or English, in this case Inuktitut. Her granddaughter narrates the Heritage Minute, as well as appearing in it with her family. It was premiered in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, where it was also filmed.

In 1963, she was featured in the National Film Board of Canada documentary Eskimo Artist: Kenojuak, directed by John Feeney, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in 1964. (Note on title: Feeney had suggested using the term "Inuit" in place of "Eskimo," but in 1963 it had been rejected as an unfamiliar term to non Inuit audiences)
1992, archival and contemporary footage of Kenojuak was featured in Momentum, Canada's film for Expo '92.

In 2020, Cape Dorset Fine Arts organized the touring exhibition Kenojuak Ashevak: Life and Legacy.