Leah Nuvalinga (Sala) Qumaluk (April 17, 1934 – 2010) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

artist. Born in

Inukjuak Inukjuak ( iu, ᐃᓄᒃᔪᐊᒃ, ''Inujjuaq'' or ''Inukjuaq'' in Latin script, meaning 'The Giant') is a northern village (Inuit community) located on Hudson Bay at the mouth of the Innuksuak River in Nunavik, in the region of northern Queb ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Qumaluk and her husband, Josie Qumaluk, moved to

Puvirnituq Puvirnituq ( iu, ᐳᕕᕐᓂᑐᖅ) is a northern village (Inuit community) in Nunavik, on the Povungnituk River near its mouth on Hudson Bay in northern Quebec, Canada. Its population was 2,128 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Of all oth ...

in 1954. She began her career as a carver before experimenting with stoneblock printing in 1960. She would go on to author at least ninety-five prints during her career, printing most of them herself as well; most of these were stonecuts. She also printed hundreds of editions for other artists, holding a regular job in a print shop to make the output possible. Early prints were dominated by mythological themes or demons conjured up by her own imagination; these were later replaced with quieter subjects such as animals or depictions of traditional life. By the late 1970s her output had diminished, and in 1985 she retired. Her style is different from that of other Puvirnituq artists in that she did not use the border of the uncut block to frame her images. Qumaluk's work may be found in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

References

1934 births 2010 deaths Canadian Inuit women Women printmakers 20th-century Canadian printmakers 20th-century Canadian women artists People from Nunavik Inuit from Quebec Inuit artists {{Canada-artist-stub