Aboriginal Gathering Place Speaker Series

We are very pleased to present artist Elisapee Ishulutaq
Aboriginal Gathering Place Speaker Series
Join us at the AGP on October 24, 11:30-12:30pm.

Elisapee Ishulutaq was born in 1925 at Kagiqtuqjuaq, one of several small seasonal camps situated near Pangnirtung (also known as Panniqtuq) on Baffin Island. In the late 1960s Ishulutuq took up permanent residence in Pangnirtung, becoming involved in the growing community’s new art-making program. She became known for her drawings recalling the old way of life, contributing numerous images to the settlement’s annual print releases. Recognizing the originality and force of her drawings, Pangnirtung’s weavers began using Ishulutaq’s designs as the basis for their largescale tapestries, a practice that has been maintained into the present. Long considered to be one of her community’s most prominent artists, Ishulutaq continues to be artistically active, exploring a range of new media and artistic possibilities. She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2014.

Like many artists of her generation, Ishulutaq prefers to represent the traditional Inuit way of life that she knew before the transition of permanent settlements. She is especially interested in representing domestic Inuit life, as seen in a series of images depicting families inside igloos and tents. In these largely autobiographical works, Ishulutaq freely combines perspectives, often employing both side views and aerial perspectives in the same image, resulting in compositions marked by a powerful formal abstraction.