resurgence ᓴᕐᖀᒋᐊᓪᓚᓂᖅ

Project Spotlight: An exhibition at the Musée d’art de Joliette showcases printmaking in Nunavik (2014-2019)

ch’i cha jų̃ kwa’ch’e Dän däw Kwenjè uts’an kwäts’eden-ji
A close-up image of a block print in black and white, showing a figure at centre wearing snow goggles, emerging from two larger mirrored faces facing outward from centre.

From 2014 to 2019, Montreal artist Lyne Bastien held traveling introductory workshops on engraving and printmaking in Nunavik, in Quebec’s Far North. His passion and love for Inuit culture gradually conquered the residents, and artists of great talent revealed themselves there. Among them: Maggie Napartuk and Qumaq M. Iyaituk, who were also curators of the exhibition presented at the Musée d’art de Joliette, as the instigator of the project wished.

A close-up image of a block print in black and white, showing a figure at centre wearing snow goggles, emerging from two larger mirrored faces facing outward from centre.
COURTESY LA FABRIQUE CULTURELLE.

The title Résurgence ( ᓴᕐᖀᒋᐊᓪᓚᓂᖅ, or Sarqiigiallaniq in Inuktitut) echoes the first experiments in engraving that emerged in Puvirnituq at the end of the 1960s, whose practice Lyne Bastien wanted to revive. The initiative culminates today with this exhibition, as unexpected as it is beneficial, which highlights the current concerns of Nunavik residents as well as their innate talent for telling stories through images. 

It is the Biennale internationale d’estampe contemporaine de Trois-Rivières (BIECTR) which is responsible for having created the links between the Avataq Cultural Institute and the Musée d’art de Joliette for the creation of Résurgence: l’estampe du Nunavik 2014-2019. This first presentation, which closes the 12th edition of the BIECTR, will continue on its way since some of the works present at the Musée d’art de Joliette will then be the subject of a traveling exhibition in several Nunavik communities, organized by Avataq.

Credits

Télé-Québec Mauricie | Center of Quebec | Lanaudiere
Cameraman-editor-director: Jean-Luc Daigle
Cameraman: Simon Laganière
Production technician: Stéphanie Collins
Coordinator: Patrick Douville

Thanks
Thanks to Élisabeth Mathieu, from the Biennale internationale d’estampe contemporaine de Trois-Rivières ; to Julie Armstrong-Boileau, from the Musée d’art de Joliette; and to Andrée Anne Vien, of the Avataq Cultural Institute. Thanks also to Marc Vachon for the images of the printmaking workshop in Ivujivik.

Credit: This video was originally published by La Fabrique Culturelle on November 22, 2021. COURTESY LA FABRIQUE CULTURELLE.

This story is part of the Nunavik Spotlight. View more content from the Spotlight here.