Since April 27th The Wag-Qaumajuq has been featuring an exhibit called Omalluq: Pictures from my life.
Featuring the drawings of Inuit Sculptor and drawer Omalluq [Oo-ma-Lu] Oshutsiaq [Oo-shoot-see-ak] (1948-2014) This exhibit features several drawings that were done by Oshutsiaq right towards the end of her life.
What makes these colorful drawings so spectacular is their highly detailed depiction of everyday life on the southern tip of Baffin Island in Nunavut. There are also innovative depictions of Inuit stories and myths that are uniquely portrayed by Oshutsiaq.
These drawings offer a remarkable and beautiful insight into the lives and stories of the Inuit.
Omalluq Oshutsiaq spent the majority of her career working as a stone carver. Kinngait (Cape Dorsett) had developed a reputation as a centre of Inuit carving. Omalluq wanted to take part and started carving in the 1970s. By the mid 1980s she had become very well known worldwide. She had done several international exhibitions and created a name for herself on the world stage
Tragically in the late 2000’s Omalluq suffered an injury to one of her hands when it got caught in an electrical grinder. This event ended her carving career, and it was only toward the end of her life that she turned to drawing.
Omalluq: Pictures from my life Consists of 19 drawings. The art was discovered in Toronto by WAG-Qaumajuq curator of Inuit art Darlene Coward Wight. As she explains, “I was visiting Dorsett Fine Arts [in Toronto] and I was shown a drawing by Omalluq and I thought ‘wow this is amazing’ and they said, ‘well we actually have a few more here would you like to see them,’ and I said absolutely! So, in all there were 19 drawings that they had, and she was not really known for drawing…so I said, ‘okay I want to take these.’ So I bought them, and they came to Winnipeg, and we acquired them.”
The detail and color in Omalluq’s drawings is so intense that it creates for the viewer a scene where something new can be discovered every time they look at the art. “I’m still seeing things in the drawings. I have seen a lot of prints and drawings over the years, but these are different. The style is particularly meticulous, her coloring is quite beautiful, and her compositions are really quite engaging when you look carefully at them,” says Coward Wight.
Drying caribou meat and fish by Omalluq Oshutsiaq. Coutesy of the WAG-QaumajuqThe drawings touch on themes such as scenes of everyday life and the tasks required to live in such a remote and harsh climate, close personal relationships to both family and community, and Inuit stories and legends. All the drawings have a story to tell the viewer.
An example of how Omalluq depicts Inuit legends in the drawings can bene seen in the piece titled Shaman’s Transformation. The drawing depicts a Shaman transforming and taking on the powers and the appearance of his or her helping spirit. As Coward Wight describes the piece, “I have seen this transformation many times in other art, but I had never seen anything like Omalluq had done. She is overlaying the figure of the female shaman with a jigsaw puzzle that is in the shape of a bear…her helping spirit. It was just such a unique way of depicting that very seminal part of Inuit shamanism.”
The exhibit is being very well received by patrons. “I think people are really reacting to these…the humanity in them, the many details of life, of a women and mother and child in some cases. You learn a lot by looking at these drawings. It’s revelatory and I think people are reacting to that.”
Omalluq: Pictures from my life is on at the WAG- Qaumajuq until March 30, 2025. For more details visit the WAG- Qaumajuq’s website.
