Ningeokuluk Teevee

NINGEOKULUK TEEVEE

“A couple of years ago I made Shaman Revealed, a drawing that was based on the Kiviuq legend of a woman turning into a fox. I wanted to show how people could change from one thing to another but still be the same person. A zipper came to mind and I thought, that's a really nice idea, so I used the zipper to show how they change.”
Ningeokuluk Teevee
(From Uuturautiit: Cape Dorset Celebrates Fifty Years of Printmaking, 2009)



Ningeokuluk is one of the most versatile and intelligent graphic artists to emerge from the Kinngait Studios. She is represented in the 2011 print collection with five images that capture her stylistic range and great sense of design and composition, particularly in the luminescent Moon Dance (2011-21) and tender Birds of a Feather (2011-20).

Inuit myths, stories and legends have frequently found their way onto the page in contemporary Inuit graphic art, and Ningeokuluk has made an important contribution to this vital continuity. Qalupalik (2011-19) is a legendary creature who lives in the sea. Human-like in form, she makes a distinctive humming sound and wears an amoutik made of eider duck feathers. During the dangerous spring break up of the ice she stalks the beach looking for wayward children who have wandered too close to the shore. If she catches you, she will put you in her amoutik and adopt you as her own. The story is still told by parents and elders to caution children away from playing near the beach at this time of year.

Born May 27, 1963, Ningeokuluk is the daughter of Joanasie Salomonie (deceased) and his wife Kanajuk. Her father, Joanasie, was a community leader and much loved in Cape Dorset for his sense of humour, mischief and compassion. In the fall of 2009, Ningeokuluk’s first children’s book was published by Groundwood Books (A Division of House of Anansi Press). Entitled Alego, it is an autobiographical story of a young girl named Alego who goes clamdigging with her grandmother for the first time and, along the way, discovers all of the wonders of the seashore. The book was short-listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award for children’s illustration.

DORSET FINE ARTS