This work – titled Bird’s Eye View – by Inuit artist Annie Pillaktuaq is among six dozen works by emerging (and established) Canadian artists acquired in 2023 by Canada’s Art Bank (part of the Canada Council for the Arts)
“This milestone purchase of permanent pieces by artists who are predominantly new to the collection has enabled the changing face of contemporary art in Canada to be celebrated,” it said in a release.
Pillaktuaq, born and raised in Iqaluit, Nunavut, says her work “challenges what you think you know about Inuit artists.”
She says her work “is a marriage of Inuit symbols and motifs with contemporary, bold lines, as well as colours. I am deeply influenced by some of the original masters of cubism . . . My landscapes call on Inuit drawing. Simple, maybe even minimal, but always powerful and steeped in our culture and way of knowing the world.”
Art Bank announcement (with names of all artists acquired) here.
Annie Pillaktuaq’s website, here.
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Oh wow! So vibrant. I get your posts on a Monday – great way to start the week!
Thank you so much Susi. I’m glad you’re enjoying them. I also thought she had a fabulous color palette. Appreciate your comment!
This art is truly different. Exciting!
Great word for it – exciting and I’m with you there. I’m especially interested that the Canada Art Bank chose her works, indicating they’re on it when it comes to identifying emerging contemporary indigenous artists.
Agree!
It’s all terrific — both the art she creates, and her refusal to be typecast, her ability to be both/and instead of either/or.
Well put! I like her work for exactly those reasons.