From the Editor
This issue of the IAQ on Threads, bursting as it is with colour and movement and joy, is a welcome arrival and a reminder that, despite the darkest and longest of days, spring will eventually come again. This past winter was especially difficult for many of our staff, friends and colleagues as it brought tremendous and deeply felt losses. In particular, the passing of singer-songwriter and activist Kelly Fraser this past December devastated the world and elicited a response so visceral it’s difficult to capture here. Fraser was a passionate and outspoken advocate for Indigenous youth, whose contributions were varied, many and lasting and whose voice and artistic perspective were singular. She was an ardent supporter of language rights and encouraged young Inuit to be unapologetically proud of their culture. She will be deeply, deeply missed.
Celebrating artistic legacies and championing artistic futures, whether individual or collective, is foundational to our editorial approach and the importance of art as a carrier of continuity and memory is borne out with each issue that we share with you. For this edition, our Features open with Krista Ulujuk Zawadski’s “Threading Memories”—an intimate account of the central place of thread, needle and cloth to Inuit life, today and always. Taking Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake), NU, as its central site and nivingajuliat (wall hangings) as its subject, Zawadski’s piece weaves together personal memory, community art history and the power of gendered storytelling to reveal the oft-hidden stories in these one-of-a-kind vibrant works. Little known histories are similarly explored in Legacy and Curatorial Notes this issue. The former, “Backstitch,” written by Genevieve LeMoine and Susan A. Kaplan explores the histories and still yet unknown aspects of a collection of embroideries largely centred on the community of Nain, Nunatsiavut, NL. These textiles, primarily created for domestic use, are microcosms—each is a small, complete world filled with narrative, delicately rendered figures and specific markers of place. In ᖃᓪᓗᓈᖅᑕᐃᑦ ᓯᑯᓯᓛᕐᒥᑦ Printed Textiles from
Kinngait Studios curator Roxane Shaughnessy shares the unlikely arc of a short-lived program out of the iconic Kinngait Studios that journeyed to Expo ’67 and beyond, including their incredible transformation into garments modelled by Kenojuak Ashevak and Mialia Jaw. Contemporary designers Tarralik Duffy, Martha Kyak and Nooks Lindell were also invited to contribute new patterns in response, hinting at the exciting shift circumpolar fashion is undergoing today. Streetwear label Hinaani Designs, for whom Lindell is the lead designer, is well known throughout the North and is one of our “5 Designers to Watch.” To meet the other four, turn to page 42.
Finally, you may also have noticed some changes to our masthead over the past few issues. I’d like to take this opportunity to officially welcome our new team members: Michael Stevens, Managing Editor; Matthew Hoffman, Art Director; Jessica MacDonald, Online Editor and finally Emily Henderson, Profiles Editor, and our first full-time Inuk editorial staff member whose role has been made possible through support from the RBC Foundation and readers like yourself. Together, we look forward to introducing you to the talents of the field’s bright new faces over the coming year and to expanding our online offerings to share with you everything we wanted to explore, but couldn’t fit inside the print edition. To complement this particular issue on Threads we took a deep dive into our archive to bring you more woven works from Panniqutuq (Pangnirtung), NU, interviews with our featured designers and others as part of Toronto Indigenous Fashion Week and much more. If you haven’t yet joined us at the IAQ Online, I hope you’ll do so soon.