Bringing Legends to Life
How illustrator Germaine Arnaktauyok uses her work to preserve oral history.
Germaine Arnaktauyok has dedicated her artistic life to storytelling, in particular, sharing Inuit myths and legends through her drawings.
Born in Manittuq, a couple hours away from Iglulik (Igloolik), NU, in 1946, Arnaktauyok showed early promise, selling her first artwork at 11 years old. Her singular focus on becoming an artist continued through the seven years she spent in a residential school, a time she has described as lonely. The isolation Arnaktauyok experienced at school in Iglu ligaar ju k (Chesterfield Inlet), NU, where she first learned to paint, became an underlying influence on her work exploring Inuit stories and femininity. In particular, her serene depictions of motherhood and familial bonding found a captive audience and have become a constant motif in her work.
Arnaktauyok went on to study fine arts at the University of Manitoba in the 1960s, followed by stints at Algonquin College in Ottawa, ON, for commercial and fine arts, and printmaking at Arctic College in Iqaluit, NU. She also took one year of arts and crafts training in Pembroke, ON. But it was drawing that ignited her passion. The late art dealer Thomas Webster, who was an early supporter of her work, told IAQ in 2010, “She has wonderful control of her pencils, and that gives her the greatest pleasure.”
Over the years, Arnaktauyok has experimented with various techniques, including a unique style in which she used layers of thin, coiled lines to give the illusion of a textured etching. Her earlier works have been described as mostly pared-down line drawings, but in the 1990s, the artist’s palette expanded, and she began experimenting more with other mediums, such as printmaking and textiles.
Many of Arnaktauyok’s works were created with younger audiences in mind. One of her first professional jobs was as an illustrator for educational books published by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND, now CrownIndigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada [CIRNAC]). In 1971, she expanded her mediums, designing the titular puppets for the National Film Board of Canada’s short animation, Owl and the
Raven. Directed by the renowned stop-animator Co Hoedeman, it’s Arnaktauyok’s charming, expressive sealsk in characters that bring the Inuit legend to life.
Arnaktauyok, whose work has been exhibited internationally, returned to children’s publishing later in life as an illustrator with Inhabit Media, an Inuit-owned press focused on preserving oral history through books. She has published several titles with Inhabit, including the 2015 illustrated memoir, My Name Is Arnaktauyok:
The Life and Art of Germaine Arnaktauyok, co-written with Gyu Oh. Her latest, Inukpak & His Son, written by Inhabit co-founder Neil Christopher, appeared in 2019 under the press’s educational arm. In this interview from 2017, Arnaktauyok discusses her celebrated career and passion for Inuit mythology.
INUIT ART QUARTERLY: As the daughter of two carvers, did you start making art at a young age?
GERMAINE ARNAK TAUYOK: I was interested in art and have been doing little drawings since I was very young. Art is the only thing I ever did in my life.
IAQ: Your artwork has graced the pages of close to 20 books in just over the past decade. When did you begin your book-illustration career?
GA: I was going to school in Winnipeg, MB, and during summer break I would go to Ottawa, ON, and illustrate educational stuff [for the then-Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]. Just little books, here and there. A few years ago, I started illustrating books again a little more seriously. It’s not a full-time job; I refuse to be a full-time worker at my age. But I always say that with artwork you never stop—you just keep going as long as you can.
I AQ : You’re sharing traditional stories with new generations through your art and your books. Why is that important to you? And how did you learn about these legends and stories?
GA: My favourite thing is legends and myths. You have more freedom because a lot of Inuit stories don’t have as many little details.
In my early twenties I took commercial art classes, but I didn’t like it. I refused to follow instructions or do realistic-looking animals, and I am not good at copying. I don’t know why. I even have a hard time copying my own work unless I trace it.
When I was in my thirties, I really got into legends and myths. I like to research as far back as I can to see how people used to dress. I mean, nobody knows before maybe the year 1300, because our history is all oral. So maybe we’ll never know how they used to be. It ’s something I’l l never see—maybe that ’s why I’m so curious.
When I was a child, there were at least four of us that were pretty close to the same age. We used to ask my father to tell us stories. Most of us never knew what the ending was because we’d fall asleep before the stor y was over. And then, of course, through books.
I think it’s so good for young people to know that we also have legends, except they were all oral. Other countries, like India and China, had a written language. We have as much story except it’s just coming out now.
These stories were a big part of the reason as to why I started doing legends later on in life.
I think it’s so good for young people to know that we also have legends, except they were all oral. Other countries, like India and China, had a written language. We have as much story except it’s just coming out now. Inhabit Media has helped so much, doing all of these stories that we probably would have never known otherwise.
I AQ : In your depictions of the sea goddess Takannaaluk (Sedna), for instance, she doesn’t have a fishtail. She’s just a woman. So many artists draw her with a tail, and I’m curious why you don’t.
GA: When I really got into legends and myth and trying to understand how Inuit used to live, I started seeing carvings of Takannaaluk with the fishtail. I was wondering how they came up with a fishtail because when you read about her in the early 1500s, maybe later than that, you never read anything about a fishtail. Did some Inuit pick that up from mermaids? I didn’t want to make up something that I never heard before, so I never drew a tail. I tried to keep it the way Inuit talk or tell a story.
IAQ: Are you still drawing every day?
GA: Almost. Your mind never goes old—it’s always the same.
It’s like you are 25 the rest of your life. That’s how my mind works. I hope everyone else is like that and it’s not only me! But your body is breaking down slowly. It doesn’t sync in with your soul anymore; one is going down and one is always the same.
IAQ: I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to me. You have a really important story and you put so much of yourself into your work and into your research.
GA: Hopefully I’ve added something in my life. Sometimes people know exactly what they want to do with their lives. And then there are people who can never find what they’re supposed to do. I’ve been lucky. Art just came along, and it feels right.
This interview was conducted in November 2017 by the IAQ’s former Senior Editor, John Geoghegan, in Toronto, ON. It has been edited for clarity and condensed.