Hot to Warm and Cool to Cold

Named for an early poem by the late artist, cartoonist, and writer Alootook Ipellie, this exhibition features the work of contemporary and historical Inuit artists that speaks to the primacy of the land in Inuit culture and its evolving representation in visual art.

Featuring works by contemporary artists, filmmakers, and animators Asinnajaq, Glenn Gear, Echo Henoche, and Dayle Kubluitok, Hot to Warm and Cool to Cold explores traditional Inuit storytelling with its deep connection to the land and how this visual imagination has been continually transformed. Juxtaposing digital animations and drawings with works from the Art Gallery of Guelph’s Inuit collection, the exhibition highlights the ongoing adaptation and renewal of forms of graphic storytelling, particularly in response to colonization and globalization.

Hot to Warm and Cool to Cold
by Alootook Ipellie

The mosquitos are at large today
As the wind stills, as the sun heats,
And we walk the rocks under,
Searching the hills for the meat
And hide of the useful caribou
That feeds and clothes my family,
Through four different seasons
When the winds change from
Hot to warm, and cool to cold.

It’s hot today and my boy is tired
We’ve been walking for miles too long
With a pack of things we need to eat and sleep
While we’re on a hunt searching the hills
For food. We need so very much to date,
But we will have to stop to rest
Ourselves, hoping and hoping all the time,
The hunted one will come to sight
When the winds change from
Hot to warm, and cool to cold.

Image detail: Myra Kukiiyaut, Super Shamou Making Sure the Exploration Company Does No Wrong, circa 1997, coloured pencil on paper, 55.9 × 76.2 cm. Purchased with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program, 1998, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre Collection at the Art Gallery of Guelph