Qavavau Manumie

Born 1958 in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
Lives in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut, Canada
Nunavut

Qavavau Manumie became an artist member of the West Baffin Eskimo cooperative studio in Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset) in 1988, first as a printmaker in lithography and then in stonecut. Both his print and drawings are idiosyncratic and often amusing in their depictions of Inuit legends and mythology, Arctic fauna and contemporary aspects of Inuit life. Qavavau is the latest among the second-generation Inuit artists to attract critical acclaim from the contemporary arts audience in the South and internationally.

Icebound Stream
Laura Veirs, 2004

Watch, I can flash across the sky
A lightning bolt from up on high
And I can crash into myself
Now a flower blooms in reverse
And a song takes back a verse
A photograph fades to white
And I can hold a thunderhead in my heart
And in my bed I can dream a winter’s gale
And wake up drenched
A stormy pale, a stormy pale
The battered heath on the shore
Will make her keep and wait for more
But underneath her icebound stream
The water pours, the water pours
And I can hold a thunderhead in my heart
And in my bed I can dream a winter’s gale
And wake up drenched
A stormy pale, a stormy pale

Untitled, 2017

Untitled, 2008

Untitled, 2017

Untitled, 2009

Untitled, 2006–2007

Untitled, 2008

Untitled, 2009

Untitled, 2006–2007

Untitled, 2019

Untitled, 2014

Untitled, 2009

Untitled, 2008

Untitled, 2008–2009

colour pencil, ink on paper

Courtesy the artist & Dorset Fine Arts

Presentation at the 23rd Biennale of Sydney was made possible with generous support from Canada Council for the Arts

Qavavau Manumie is a Kinngait (Cape Dorset) based artist in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. He is known for his intricate compositions in ink and coloured pencil that are often amusing in their depictions of Inuit mythology, Arctic fauna and contemporary experiences of Inuit life. When he was a child, Manumie’s father told him tales of the Inuralaat, or little people, warning him to keep away if he saw their tracks. Manumie’s drawings sometimes depict the Inuralaat in relation to everyday objects such as a harpoon, tools or a lamp.

For the 23rd Biennale of Sydney, Manumie presents a series of drawings both literal and surreal in nature with strong environmental reflections. Climate change is having a radical impact on the place where Manumie lives and creates, the sea ice is melting, and the natural cycles and seasons are being disturbed.

23rd Biennale of Sydney (2022)

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