Pitseolak Ashoona

Pitseolak Ashoona (* 1904 or 1907 in an Inuit camp on Nottingham Island , Nunavut Territory , Canada ; † May 28, 1983 in Cape Dorset ) and Kenojuak Ashevak are considered to be the first Inuit women who grew rapidly in the late 1950s Success began to draw. Pitseolak captured everyday life in Inuit camps unpretentiously and with remarkable authenticity and in this way created important documents of Inuit culture . In addition, she became known as the author of her autobiography .

Pitseolak - 1st generation Inuit artist

On the one hand, Pitseolak Ashoona (Inuktitut version: Pitsiulaaq Asuuna; see below) belonged to the last generation of Inuit who spent most of their lives as traditional hunters in camps, and on the other hand they are counted among the first generation of Inuit artists . In the late 1910s she met the famous filmmaker Robert Flaherty ( Nanuk, the Eskimo ) on the southern Baffin Island . After her husband Ashoona, the hunter of the family's breadwinners, died at the age of 40 on Natsiliq Lake (on Baffin Island ), she and her children were left on their own at an early age. After decades of nomadic life in camps on the south coast of Baffin Island, she settled in the Cape Dorset settlement in the early 1960s . Under the guidance of James Houston (called "Saumiq" by the Inuit) she began to make a living (apart from fishing and hunting) by making drawings. By her death she had created over 7,000 works valued by collectors and art connoisseurs, a large number of which are in the possession of the National Gallery of Canada , Ottawa.

Pitseolak Ashoona was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1974 and became a member of the Order of Canada in 1977 .

Note on writing names

In the ever more penetrating in Nunavut, the syllabary derived Latin spelling of Inuktitut , the name of the Inuit artist is correct Pitsiulaaq Asuuna (Pitsiulaaq, German: black guillemot ), because of its visibility but the English form is usually maintained.

Well-known Inuit artists from the descendants

• Namunai Ashoona (1926–2003) - son of Pitsiulak Ashoona
  • Samiak Ashoona (1928–1970) - wife of Namunai Ashoona

• Qaqaq (Kaka) Ashoona (1928–1996) - son of Pitsiulak Ashoona
  • Mayuriaq Ashoona (* 1946) - wife of Qaqaq Ashoona
  • Uqituq (Ohitu) Ashoona (* 1952) - son of Qaqaq Ashoona

• Kumvartuk Ashoona (1930–1984) - son of Pitsiulak Ashoona
  • Qavavau Ashoona (* 1967) - son of Kumvartuk Ashoona

• Kiugak (Kiawak) Ashoona (* 1933) - son of Pitsiulak Ashoona
  • Surusilutu (Sorosiluto) Ashoona (* 1941) - wife of Kiugak Ashoona
  • Suvinai Ashoona (* 1961) - daughter of Kiugak Ashoona
  • Napatsi Ashoona (* 1974) - son of Kiugak Ashoona
  • Guta (Goota) Ashoona (* 1967) - daughter of Kiugak Ashoona
  • Cii (Lake) Ashoona (* 1981) - son of Kiugak Ashoona

• Napachi Pootoogook (1938–2002) - only daughter of Pitsiulak Ashoona
  • Annie Pootoogook (* 1969) - daughter of Napachi Pootoogook
  • Cie (See) Pootoogook (* 1967) - son of Napachi Pootoogook
  • Gu (Goo) Pootoogook (* 1956) - son of Napachi Pootoogook

• Uttuqi (Ottokie) Ashoona (1942–1970) - son of Pitsiulak Ashoona
  • Tumira Ashoona (* 1943) - wife of Uttuqi Ashoona sen.
  • Uttuqi (Ottokie) Ashoona (* 1970) - son of Uttiqi Ashoona

Fonts

• with Dorothy Harley Eber: Pictures out of my life. University of Washington Press , Seattle 1971; again McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal 2003 (in Inuktitut, with English translation) ISBN 0773525653 (autobiography)
  • Excerpt, transl. Birgit Herrmann: The old life in women in Canada. Narratives and stories. dtv, Munich 1993, pp. 111-118

Web links

• Examples of the art of Pitseolak Ashoona