Janet Nungnik (born 1954) or Janet Anautalik Nungnik is an

Inuk Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labr ...

textile artist Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization. The methods and materials use ...

who lives and works in Qamani’tuaq, which is also known as Baker Lake,

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. She is known for her colourful applique and

embroidery Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...

works that display

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

and everyday rural

arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

life.

Biography

In 1954, Nungnik was born in Ariaut Anautalik, which is a small camp west of the

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

, in the

Kivalliq The Kivalliq Region (; Inuktitut syllabics: ᑭᕙᓪᓕᖅ) is an administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. It consists of the portion of the mainland to the west of Hudson Bay together with Southampton Island and Coats Island. The regional cen ...

region of

. she lived a semi-nomadic life with her parents, Martha Tiktak Anautalik and William Anautalik, and her older sister Vera, and her younger brother Eric. She is of the

Ihalmiut The Ahiarmiut ᐃᓴᓪᒥᐅᑦ or Ihalmiut ("People from Beyond") or ("the Out-of-the-Way Dwellers") are a group of inland Inuit who lived along the banks of the Kazan River, Ennadai Lake, and Little Dubawnt Lake (renamed ''Kamilikuak''), ...

and Padlermiut peoples which are a part of the

Caribou Inuit Kivallirmiut, also called the Caribou Inuit (/ᑭᕙᓪᓕᕐᒥᐅᑦ), barren-ground caribou hunters, are Inuit who live west of Hudson Bay in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, between 61° and 65° N and 90° and 102° W in Northern Canada. The Denm ...

. Nungnik attended elementary school in Qamani’tuaq(Baker's Lake), middle school in

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a subarctic port town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leadi ...

and high school in

Yellowknife Yellowknife is the capital, largest community, and the only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of t ...

. Nungnik's father insisted that the three children continue to speak and write in

Inuktitut Inuktitut ( ; , Inuktitut syllabics, syllabics ), also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the North American tree line, including parts of the provinces of ...

despite learning English in school. Nungnik started sewing wall hangings in 1970 after, helping care for

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

and observing her work. Nungnik also observed and worked with her own mother, Martha Tiktak Anautalik.

Early life

Ariaut Anautalik was such a remote region and small settlement that for the first several years of her life Nungnik grew up thinking that her family members were the only people in existence. There was a famine in this region in the late 1950s, when caribou herds changed their migratory routes, which left inhabitants without a food source. Despite what may have been seen as a difficult life style, Nungnik describes feeling safe and happy during this period. Nungnik's early years from Ariaut Anautalik were important to her and they have inspired many textile works. These depict scenes of her mother drying fish, her skipping rope made from caribou hide, her father coming back from trading and bringing items that were not made by the family, and scenes such as walking in the

tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

or sleeping in their igloo.

Moving to Qamani’tuaq/ Baker Lake

When Nungnik was six or seven a red plane landed near her settlement. Inside the plane were government agents who had come to take the three children to school. Not only was this the first time that she had seen a plane, but also the first time she had seen

white people White is a Race (human categorization), racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry. It is also a Human skin color, skin color specifier, although the definition can var ...

. Somehow her had father managed to arrange for the whole family to move inland to Baker Lake and the children to attend day school rather than have the children attend residential school, a system that has been accused of

cultural genocide Cultural genocide or culturicide is a concept first described by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944, in the same book that coined the term ''genocide''. The destruction of culture was a central component in Lemkin's formulation of genocide ...

and where many children suffered abuse. Nungnik, her brother and sister were flown to Baker Lake alone and held in foster care for the months before her parents were able to travel across the snow to arrive and reunite the family.

Artwork

Nungnik creates

appliqué Appliqué is ornamental needlework in which pieces or patches of fabric in different shapes and patterns are sewn or stuck onto a larger piece to form a picture or pattern. It is commonly used as decoration, especially on garments. The technique ...

wall hangings on wool duffel out of

embroidery floss Embroidery thread is yarn that is manufactured or hand- spun specifically for embroidery and other forms of needlework. Embroidery thread often differs widely, coming in many different fiber types, colors and weights. Type of embroidery thread Thre ...

, cloth, and beads. Her wall hangings include

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

and

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller ...

scenes from her everyday life and are a mixture of realistic imagery with relative sizes and perspectives that do not follow western realism tradition. Many of her works are displayed with poetry that is created concurrently with the textiles, where the words of the poems reflect on the narrative within the image.

Solo exhibitions

*''Janet Nungnik: Revelations'',

McMichael Canadian Art Collection The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (MCAC) is an art museum in Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located on a property in Kleinburg, an unincorporated village in Vaughan. The property includes the museum's main building, a sculpture gar ...

, June 8 - January 5, 2020 *''The Eagle's Shadow'', Marion Scott Gallery, March 30 - April 27, 2019 *''Works on Cloth'', Marion Scott Gallery, July 27 - Aug 30, 2002

Collections

Nungnik's work can be found in the

textile Museum of Canada The Textile Museum of Canada, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a museum dedicated to the collection, exhibition, and documentation of textiles. History The Textile Museum of Canada was founded as the Canadian Museum of Carpets and Textiles ...

Art Gallery of Guelph The Art Gallery of Guelph (AGG), formerly the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, is a public gallery and adjoining Sculpture garden in Guelph, Ontario. Its collection consists of over 9,000 works. The AGG is a nonprofit organization which focuses on r ...

References

External links

Video of Janet Nungnik
created for The Eagle's Shadow exhibition at Marion Scott Gallery in 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nungnik, Janet 1954 births 20th-century Inuit artists 20th-century Inuit women 21st-century Inuit artists 21st-century Inuit women 21st-century Inuit people Inuit textile artists People from Baker Lake Canadian Inuit artists Canadian Inuit women artists Artists from Nunavut 20th-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian women artists Canadian women textile artists Inuit from the Northwest Territories Living people Canadian embroiderers