More than 70 Indigenous artists from across the circumpolar world are featured in Qillaniq, a major multidisciplinary showcase at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa that celebrates Indigenous creativity and connection across the Arctic.
Co-curator Laakkuluk Williamson, a Greenlandic Inuk based in Iqaluit, believes the exhibition represents something much larger than an art show.
“It is a moment of great pride for our artistic community as Arctic people,” she said.
The exhibition brings together artists from Greenland, Canada, Alaska, Siberia and Sápmi, regions whose Indigenous peoples remain connected despite national borders.
“Even though we live in different nations, we are still the same people,” Williamson said. “Qillaniq is a moment of unity, and it’s also a moment of great joy that we are expressing.”
A central theme of the exhibition is what Williamson calls “radical joy”, a concept rooted in Indigenous survival and resistance.
“Every single aspect of our lives in the Arctic as Indigenous peoples is highly colonized,” she explained. “It was colonized in a way that the system wants to eradicate our existence, and yet every day we do exist, and we create all of these safe places that we are able to laugh and have great joy in.”
Qillaniq (Inuktitut for “the light that shimmers on water”) was developed by six Indigenous co-curators who worked together for a year and a half with the National Gallery. Every artwork is important for Williamson “because we are responsive to our communities.”
“I felt a responsibility to make sure that artists from Greenland and Nunavut are in the show,” she said, mentioning the work by Nunavut artist Natashia Allakariallak. “Her work is an exploration of her body as a breastfeeding mother.”
The image depicts elements of motherhood, fertility and creation, including traditional thigh tattoos made by Inuit women.
Although no Cree artists are included in Qillaniq, Williamson believes there are strong connections between Inuit and Cree people.
“There are many similarities in the colonial experience, and that’s something for all Indigenous people to be in conversation about,” she explained. “We do have parallels in our lives, and it’s important for non-Inuit to bear witness to it because there’s so much to learn.”
Williamson hopes the exhibition offers a deeper understanding of Arctic Indigenous relationships with the land. “People will see throughout the exhibition that there are artists who use feathers, fish skin, reindeer skulls, wood, bone, flowers,” she said.
Visitors can see the cosmos through thousands of beads, a reminder that Indigenous art can connect ancient knowledge and the wonders of the universe.
Margaret Nazon, a Gwich’in artist from Tsiigehtchic in the Northwest Territories, transforms images of the space into intricate beadwork, blending Indigenous artistic traditions with astronomy. In 2009, the International Year of Astronomy, Nazon began applying the traditional beadwork techniques she learned as a child to recreate images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
“Before I beaded flowers,” she said. “Space is very different, and I was intrigued by all the images that were coming forth.”
The vibrant colours and abstract beauty of astronomical images inspire Nazon’s fascination with the cosmos. “I learned a lot about all the gases in space,” she said. “So, I quit doing flowers and decided to do Saturn and comets and Milky Way.”
Nazon believes visitors’ reactions often depend on their familiarity with astronomy.
“At first, people weren’t sure what it was,” she continued. “It was abstract art to them, but once they learned the stories behind the images, they ask questions and enjoy it.”
Among the pieces on display is Spirit of the Ocean, a sculpture carved from mammoth tusk by Viktor Iadne, a New York-based bone carver from the Yamalo-Nenets region in Siberia.
The sculpture depicts an octopus-like creature with four eyes and a mouth on a whale’s tail “as I was inspired by the mythical cosmic personage Cthulhu,” Iadne said. “The whale is a whole platform that can be developed. I delved deeper and saw the spirit of the ocean.”
Much of Iadne’s work is created from mammoth tusk, a material he believes carries memory and energy from the distant past. His art often explore Northern traditions, animals, hunters, spirits, shamans and mythology.
“Bone contains the energy of animals, created by God,” he said. “If it’s a mammoth, it ran, and that energy is memory, it’s always there. We, as Indigenous peoples, serve as a kind of bridge between the world, nature and spirits.”
Although Indigenous peoples from Siberia and from Canada’s NWT have developed different artistic traditions, Iadne sees many shared experiences, such as colonial pressures and attempts to suppress their cultures.
“Indigenous art in Canada has gained growing recognition and support,” Iadne said. “Canada now recognises the values of Indigenous culture, and they have a future for it, if they develop it.”