Kudluajuk Ashoona
Madrona Gallery
Kudluajuk Ashoona’s (1958–2019) first solo exhibition is at once intimate and curious, lighthearted and heartfelt. Each drawing evokes a sense of familiarity and strangeness—the feeling of being offered access to a personal memory but not its full narrative. The vibrant colours and distinct eyes of the figures draw the viewer in, gesturing to the many stories inevitably surrounding these images, and yet the works are untitled, evading authorial explanation. These subtle paradoxes make Ashoona’s work particularly captivating and provoke active engagement on behalf of the viewer. They insist on an intimacy of reflection that considers the range of stories, activities, gatherings, events and relations that comprise contemporary Inuit family and community life.
Based largely on photographs, Ashoona’s coloured pencil drawings invite viewers to engage with her re-imagined snapshots of everyday life in Kinngait. Her presence can be sensed within her artistic interpretation of these scenes. Just as she observed each photograph (or perhaps the actual moments through the camera’s lens) to transform them into drawings, so too are viewers invited to observe her drawings and contemplate the many-layered, collective memories they archive. This juxtaposition of perspectives fosters a sense of warmth. It evokes the ineffable quality of memory and lived experiences, asking viewers to notice the careful way in which Ashoona renders these moments for others to witness.
Ashoona builds on the ground-breaking representations of Annie Pootoogook, RCA (1969–2016) by capturing the joyful energy of leisure activities and family gatherings. Ashoona’s portrayal of recreation is best illustrated through multiple pieces showcasing children and youth: they wear homemade Halloween costumes and experiment with makeup and hairdos. One untitled piece depicts two figures with arms around each other, giving what appears to be the middle finger. By spotlighting casual attitudes and gestured expletives, Ashoona calls to mind familiar, playful responses to having one’s photo taken and the sacred bond of teenagehood. In sharing her artistic rendering of private photos not usually meant for public exhibition, Ashoona challenges viewers to discover a new understanding of contemporary Inuit life.
Another untitled drawing features a band and audience members grooving to music; the name Sugluk—the first Inuit rock band— is etched on the drum kit. The band members and dancers wear long hair and 1970s-era
glasses and button-up shirts. The piece exudes modernity, prompting the viewer to consider the place of popular entertainment in Ashoona’s community. A similar work features a figure in plaid, sitting next to a record player in front of a union jack flag. The relaxed, stylish tone of this portrait demonstrates the kind of matter-of-fact intimacy that defines much of Ashoona’s work: during the 1970s, while graphic artists were creating prints that focused on certain aspects of Inuit life, such as seal hunting and igloo building, members of the community were dancing and listening to rock music.
Nicotye Samayualie’s influence on her mother’s work is unmistakable in Ashoona’s drawings of beads and rocks that feature tiny, colourful circles. During the exhibition viewers could observe Samayualie’s print Polished Buttons (2013). The similarities of the pieces are poignant, as are their differences. Where the outlines of Samayualie’s buttons enclose the various colours, Ashoona’s colours gently bleed between the lines; still, both works create a feeling of infinite layering and movement through the repetition of a pattern. These characteristics emphasize each artist’s unique perspective as well as their connection.
In Ashoona’s drawings every detail is foregrounded equally, creating a perceptual flattening of the figures and objects she draws. The effect of this style is an equal emphasis on discrete features, as seen in Untitled (Girl putting on her boot): the green flowers on a girl’s dress, her purple headband, differently sized stones and pebbles on the ground, and a disproportionately large, empty can of Coca-Cola nestled between sheets of plywood.
This lack of focal point recalls the inconsequential details in a photograph that might otherwise be overlooked, but which often persist in memory. It also draws the eye away from the central figure only to insist upon its return, to study it closer and participate in generating meaning about the transient moment the original snapshot captured. The unpretentious quality of Ashoona’s artwork encourages viewers to invest time and thought not merely in observing her drawings but in critically engaging with the context in which they were produced, the personal stories they echo, and the histories and practices of artmaking with which they intersect. She calls for viewers to discern her simultaneously momentous and ordinary portrayal of family, friends and community, and to find meaning in the subtlety of this distinction.
A matter-of-fact intimacy defines Ashoona’s work: during the 1970s, while graphic artists created prints focusing on certain aspects of Inuit life, such as seal hunting and igloo building, members of the community danced and listened to rock music.