A Q&A with the curators of INUA
Qaumajuq’s inaugural exhibition is historic in itself—for the first time ever, a curatorial team represents all four regions of Inuit…
Indigenous Sovereignty
Creating
Representation
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The Welcome Wall is a large semi-circle wall which acts as the barrier to the opening of the entire exhibit. It is the first thing you see when entering Illusuak. The LCT Department released a call for interest for the vision for the Welcome Wall and the chosen artist was Postville resident Jason Jacque.
Jason is a well-known jeweler from Postville, Nunatsiavut, who has had works for sale in the NG auctions, and exhibited in SakKijâjuk. Jason is also a carver of stone and wood, and also an amazing drawer.
Jason submitted a line drawing of a small herd of caribou at a standstill. Caribou has an important history in Nunatsiavut. Caribou was the main source of wild meat many years ago but with the provincial caribou hunting ban it meant that many Nunatsiavummiut were affected by food insecurity. Moose meat has been the replacement choice but moose aren’t as plentiful as the caribou once was and this meant that the Nunatsiavut Government has had to outsource a Moose hunt in Newfoundland in order to be able to provide a couple meals of moose meat to all families in Nunatsiavut.
The 5 Communities wall is a brief look into each of the remote Nunatsiavut communities of Rigolet, Postville, Makkovik, Hopedale and Nain. The purpose was to include and highlight the history, values, pride and people of each of the communities.
Community consultations were held in each of the communities that allowed the public to help develop the content for their community. Early in the research part of the project, we saw a common pattern; each community was very proud to highlight artists and art from their communities.
The department decided that the best way to highlight the artists and art was to actually gather art pieces from each community to highlight items of importance to that community—for example, Rigolet is highly known for its grasswork and Nain for its carvings.
Not only was it important to highlight the type of art but also the artists selected were well-known to their community and well-known to represent Nunatsiavut on a much higher level.
Artists Include:
Gilbert Hay—Soapstone carver, Nain, Nunatsiavut
Chesley Flowers—Wood caribou carver, Hopedale, Nunatsiavut
Nellie Winters—Traditional seamstress, free hand embroidery, Makkovik, Nunatsiavut
Sarah & Garland Baikie—Grasswork, Rigolet, Nunatsiavut
Naomi Williams—Grasswork, Rigolet, Nunatsiavut
Elizabeth Tooktoshina—Grasswork, Rigolet, Nunatsiavut
George Rich—Grasswork, Rigolet, Nunatsiavut
This story is part of the Nunatsiavut Spotlight. View more content from the Spotlight here.
