Montreal Museum of Fine Art debuts new presentation of Inuit art collection
October 30, 2024 | In the PressFrom See Great Art (https://www.seegreatart.art/montreal-museum-of-fine-art-debuts-new-presentation-of-inuit-art-collection/)
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) invites visitors to experience a breathtaking display of Inuit art as of November 8. Conceived by Inuk artist and curator asinnajaq, this new presentation of the Museum’s Inuit art collection prompts us to meditate on the rhythms of life particular to the circumpolar territories known together as Inuit Nunangat (Inuit homelands).
Shown in brightly lit renovated and modernized galleries on the ground floor of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, ?????? uummaqutik: essence of life doubles the Museum’s exhibition space dedicated to Inuit art, and brings together works dating from 1949 to today that demonstrate richness and diversity in contemporary Inuit artistic expression.
Prioritizing a bold storytelling approach, this evolving display will be periodically updated over the next five years, allowing the public to admire a rotation of some 120 works by 70 Inuit artists from Nunavik, Nunavut, Nunatsiavut, and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.
To mark the inauguration of this space, the MMFA is inviting the public to attend a conversation on Indigenous curatorial practices on November 6, at 5:30 p.m. between guest curator asinnajaq and Léuli Eshraghi, Curator of Indigenous Practices. This talk is part of the symposium “???????? Qinnirajaattuq / Ripples: Making Waves in Inuit Art,” organized in partnership with Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership.
Then, at 7:30 p.m., the Oktoecho ensemble will perform a concert at Bourgie Hall, titled “Saimaniq-Sivumut,” which will reveal the genuine alchemy between three Inuit genres: throat singing, drumming, and Ayaya singing.
Complementing “?????? uummaqutik: essence of life,” an audio tour with detailed and evocative visual descriptions of the presentation has been specially developed for people with visual impairments. There is also a display case featuring a rotating work chosen by Nunavik communities, and an upcoming series of events that will foster dialogues about the works on display.
?????? uummaqutik: essence of life
The inaugural presentation of “uummaqutik” comprises 60 works from the MMFA’s collection – prints, drawings, textile works, photographs, paintings, sculptures and installations – by artists such as Siku Allooloo, Darcie Bernhardt, Lucassie Echalook, Charlie Alakkariallak Inukpuk, Niap, Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona, Joe Talirunili and Jessica Winters, not to mention the eye-popping motorbike sidecar by Mattiusi Iyaituk and Etienne Guay, on loan from Avataq Cultural Institute, as well as a selection of works that are promised gifts from Lois and Daniel Miller. Later on, the space will also feature works by Kudluajuk Ashoona, Shuvinai Ashoona, Annie Pootoogook and Johnny Pootoogook, among other renowned artists.
Furthermore, artist Couzyn van Heuvelen has created Qulliq (2024), the MMFA’s second Indigenous art commission this year. This imposing glass sculpture, whose shape and title embody the qulliq oil lamp, widely used by Inuit, is also the artist’s first work to enter the Museum collection.
The energy that unites living beings and transforms our universe
Through these artforms, artists share with visitors their views on the simple and extraordinary moments of life, including childbirth, child rearing, everyday activities and seasonal community work. Together, the works on view portray these moments as a sharing and transmission of energy between humans and all other living beings with whom we coexist, including the plants, stones and stars.
“Humans are inspired to move by the environment and are bound in life to Sila – air, water, earth and fire – as well as to all of the other life forms that inhabit the planet,” asinnajaq said. “Somewhere in our relationship with the environment, its seasons and cycles shape us as humans; we too shape it in turn. Therein lies the nature of cycles of energy sharing.”
A new window onto the Inuit art collection
A pioneer since 1953 in the collection of Inuit art, the Museum invites the public to experience a completely new presentation of its collection, representing the work of some 300 artists from Inuit territories spanning Alaska to Kalaallit Nunaat, Greenland, and including the circumpolar regions of Canada, in between. To make this artistic and cultural heritage more accessible to all audiences, the renovated exhibition galleries are over 200 m2, effectively doubling the area dedicated to the presentation of Inuit art at the Museum.
A mediation experience accessible to people with visual impairments
As a complement to the exhibition, the MMFA has created an audio tour with descriptions in three languages – Inuktitut, French and English – which can be accessed by smartphone. This tour is adapted for people with visual impairments and focuses on 12 works. It features personal accounts by asinnajaq, Isabelle Uyaralaaq Avingaq Choquette, Associate Curator at the Avataq Cultural Institute, and Thomassie Mangiok, graphic designer for the presentation and centre director of Nuvviti School in Ivujivik, as well as artists Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona, and Maggie Napartuk. This project was designed in collaboration with Technoleads and produced by PRISM, the MMFA’s digital mediation innovation lab.
