Victoria Mamnguqsualuk (sometimes Mamnguksualuk) (

Inuktitut syllabics Inuktitut syllabics ( iu, ᖃᓂᐅᔮᖅᐸᐃᑦ, qaniujaaqpait, or , ) is an abugida-type writing system used in Canada by the Inuktitut-speaking Inuit of the territory of Nunavut and the Nunavik and Nunatsiavut regions of Quebec and Labra ...

: ) (1930-2016) was one of the best-known

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 ...

artists of her generation.

Early life

Born near

Garry Lake Garry Lake (variant: Garry Lakes; Inuktitut: , meaning "sideways", or "crooked") is a lake in sub-Arctic Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. As a portion of the Back River waterway, Garry Lake originates directly east of Lake Pelly and drains to th ...

, Mamnguqsualuk passed a

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

ic youth until her thirties, when in 1963, to avoid starvation, her family moved to Baker Lake. Mamnguqsualuk is one of noted Inuit artist

Jessie Oonark Jessie Oonark, ( ᔨᐊᓯ ᐅᓈᖅ; 2 March 1906 – 7 March 1985) was a prolific and influential Inuit artist of the Utkuhiksalik, Utkuhihalingmiut ''Utkuhiksalingmiut'' whose wall hangings, prints and drawings are in major collections includ ...

's eight artistically gifted children; among her siblings are the artists Nancy Pukingrnak,

Josiah Nuilaalik Josiah ( or ) or Yoshiyahu; la, Iosias was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE) who, according to the Hebrew Bible, instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Josiah is credited by most biblical s ...

Janet Kigusiuq Janet Kigusiuq (b. 1926 Putuqsuqniq camp, near Garry Lake, Nunavut; d. 2005 Baker Lake, Nunavut) was an Inuit artist. Kigusiuq came from a large family of artists: she was the eldest daughter of Jessie Oonark, her siblings included artists Victor ...

Mary Yuusipik Singaqti Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

, Miriam Nanurluk, and

William Noah William Noah (born 1944, Back River, Northwest Territories (now Nunavut)) is a former territorial level politician and artist. He served as a member of the Northwest Territories Legislature from 1979 until 1982. Noah was first elected to the ...

. Her husband, Samson Kayuryuk, and son, Paul Aglakuaq Kayuryuk, are also artists.

Work

She is best known for her

silkscreen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh ...

and

stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...

, prints, but has worked in sculpture, drawings, and fabrics as well. Mamnguqsualuk's bold depictions of Inuit myth have been widely praised. Like her mother, she moves easily between the realms of graphic arts and textiles. Eight of her prints were part of the first print edition from Baker Lake, in 1970, and her pieces have appeared in many collections since then. Her work is informed by some of the stylistic tropes of European art. In her painting ''Shaman Caribou'', Mamnguqsualuk has created a complex composition that illustrates many aspects of the Inuit Shaman's world.

Collections

Mamnguqsualuk's work is in the collections of: * the

Winnipeg Art Gallery The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collect ...

, * the

Canadian Museum of Civilization The Canadian Museum of History (french: Musée canadien de l’histoire) is a national museum on anthropology, Canadian history, cultural studies, and ethnology in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The purpose of the museum is to promote the heritage of C ...

, * the

Macdonald Stewart Art Centre The Art Gallery of Guelph (AGG), formerly the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, is a public gallery and adjoining sculpture park in Guelph, Ontario. The AGG has a collection of over 9,000 works and focusses on research, publishing, educational progra ...

, * the McMichael Collection, * the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

, and * the

Glenbow Museum The Glenbow Museum is an art and history regional museum in the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The museum focuses on Western Canadian history and culture, including Indigenous perspectives. The Glenbow was established as a private non-profi ...

References

1930 births 2016 deaths Canadian printmakers Women printmakers Inuit printmakers 20th-century Canadian artists 20th-century printmakers 20th-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian artists 21st-century printmakers 21st-century Canadian women artists People from Baker Lake Canadian Inuit women Artists from Nunavut Inuit from the Northwest Territories Inuit from Nunavut Oonark family {{Canada-artist-stub