ᑲᔪHᐃᐅᑎHᐃᒪᔭᑦᑲ | Kajuhiutihimajatka (What I’m Carrying On)

Kajuhiutihimajatka: What I’m Carrying On brings the work of artist Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona in dialogue with that of artists Victoria Mamnguqsualuk and Jessie Oonark. Beginning a creative residency with the gallery’s collection in 2021, Kabloona encountered a number of prints, drawings, and textiles created by Mamnguqsualuk, her grandmother, and Oonark, her great-grandmother, that she had not seen before. While the multidisciplinary artist’s practice often speaks directly to the Inuit stories and symbols she has inherited, this exhibition highlights her first engagement with this family legacy. Created in response to the visual narratives of her ancestors, her wall hanging, Tiriganiaq, allows Kabloona to explore traditional Inuit legends through a feminist lens.

At the same time, Kajuhiutihimajatka brings into sharp relief the historical relationship of museums and Inuit communities, particularly the distance they have imposed between artworks and makers, as well as their families and descendants. A response to the decontextualization at the heart of the way museums have collected, Kajuhiutihimajatka offers a self-conscious look at this history, making that a visible aspect of the exhibition. Bringing together works from the collection with well-loved family belongings such as handmade clothing made by the artists, the exhibition highlights a continuous thread of creativity between art and the everyday.

Kajuhiutihimajatka: What I’m Carrying On is co-curated by Taqralik Partridge and Shauna McCabe and presented by the Art Gallery of Guelph with the support of Canadian Heritage through the Museums Assistance Program.

Image detail: Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona, Tiriganiaq, 2022, felt, embroidered thread, 116.8 x 95.9 cm.

Photo credit: Shelby Lisk