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Renowned Inuk artist Shuvinai Ashoona will be the focus of a new exhibition at Vancouver’s Marion Scott Gallery.
Shuvinai Ashoona: An Exhibition, running March 9 to April 6, comes on the heels of Ashoona being given the Governor General’s Awards in the Arts for her “dedication to the expression and practice of Inuit art and her contribution to Canada’s larger contemporary art community.”
The exhibit showcases Ashoona’s unconventional coloured pencil drawings, with a highlight being a suite of polyptychs from 2012 that have never before been shown publicly.
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“Many of the works have been chosen for their formal innovativeness. For example, there is a whole series of polyptychs — monumentally scaled drawings consisting of multiple sheets of paper sectioned together to form uniform images,” gallery director Robert Kardosh said in an email. “There is also a series of small drawn sculptures, interactive works that reveal their imagery in response to the viewer’s movements in space.”
When asked about her work and what she thinks the public can draw from it, Ashoona said there is no right or wrong answer.
“I think that different people see so many different things when they look at drawings,” said Ashoona in an email. “When people describe my drawings, there are certain things that each person will say about my artwork, they’ll see things in a way that I hadn’t even thought of myself. But for me, drawings can come from what I see out there or what I don’t see around me.
“Every time I draw something, it helps me to understand what I see and also what’s going on in my imagination,” added Ashoona, who lives in Kinngait, Nunavut.
This new show marks Ashoona’s ninth exhibition at the Marion Scott Gallery. Kardosh, who nominated her for the Governor General’s Awards in the Arts honour, has known the artist for two decades.
“Shuvinai Ashoona is one of Canada’s best-known artists, and for good reason. For nearly three decades, Ashoona has been picturing life in Canada’s North, giving expression to her unique vision through both her drawings and her prints. It is a vision that combines worlds and perspectives,” said Kardosh. “Her messages are highly resonant and rich with metaphor. Her works pertain not just to Inuit culture but to human culture everywhere. Her images have something important to tell us. They are also often a lot of fun.”
There is a public reception and talk at the gallery on March 9, from 2-4 p.m.
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