Annie Pootoogook comes from a long line of artists in Cape Dorset (known today as Kinngait) and began drawing in 1997.
2018 Biennial Year Find out more
Within a decade, Pootoogook became the catalyst for an explosion of creativity originating from Kinngait Studios. Her drawings challenged conventional expectations of ‘Inuit’ graphic art. An instinctive chronicler of her generation, Pootoogook created works peppered with images of daily life: from feasting, camping and hunting to current events seen on television, intimate personal eroticism as well as alcoholism and domestic violence. Her immediate success drew the attention of a broad cross-section of art collectors and signalled to artist colleagues in the North that there were no limits on subject matter and scale.
Annie Pootoogook’s drawings at Tate Liverpool served as a diary of the artist’s life and were indicative of the sulijuk (‘true’ or ‘real’) tradition. Pootoogook worked with a singular clarity of vision, often depicting poignant moments of emotion or violence in intimate domestic environments. Immediate and direct in style, her drawings chronicle the everyday events of modern Inuit life in the small community of Kinngait as she saw it. Her realism is at odds with the traditional outdoor scenes that people have come to expect from Inuit art.
Dr Nancy Campbell, co-curator of Annie Pootoogook’s display at Tate Liverpool, selected a series of 15 drawings that served as a diary of the artist’s life.
Exhibitions include McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Canada (2017); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2013); Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, USA (2012–13); National Gallery of Canada, Ontario, Canada (2009–10); documenta 12, Kassel, Germany (2007); and The Power Plant, Ontario, Canada (2006).
Annie Pootoogook at Liverpool Biennial 2018
Composition: Women Gathering Whale Meat, 2003–2004
Eating Seal at Home, 2001
Bringing Home Food, 2003–2004
Family Taking Supplies, Home, 2006
Memory of My Life: Breaking Bottles, 2001–2002
Composition (Family Portrait), 2005–2006
Myself in Scotland, 2005-2006
Pitseolak Drawing with Two Girls on Her Bed, 2006
Composition: Drawing of My Grandmother’s Glasses, 2007
Holding Boots, 2004
(35/36) Red Bra, 2006
Man Abusing His Partner, 2002
Composition: Watching Porn on Television, 2005
Gold Star TV, 2003–2004
Dr. Phil, 2006
Coloured pencil and ink on paper/felt-tip pen over graphite on paper/paint stick on paper
Exhibited at Tate Liverpool
Supported by Canada Council for the Arts
Annie Pootoogook’s Inuit Drawings
‘This girl from Kinngait was just making such impactful, simple drawings that she really forced change’
Serving as a diary of her life, Annie Pootoogook’s graphic drawings act as a chronicle of her struggles with addiction and abuse as well as documenting the delicate relationships shared with those closest to her. Watch as curator Nancy Campbell discusses how the artist’s confident and emotive drawings changed the tradition of Inuit art and delivered them to a new audience.
Annie Pootoogook is on view at Touchstones Rochdale, 13 July – 21 September 2019 as part of the Liverpool Biennial touring programme.
Film by Carl Davies, FACT Video Production Services
Place to Place at Humber Street Gallery
Drawings, films and sculptural installations by three international artists have taken over Humber Street Gallery in Hull. Listen to curator John Heffernan discuss the works of Inci Eviner, Suki Seokyeong Kang and Annie Pootoogook, in an exhibition that celebrates women and interrogates their role in society.
Place to Place is at Humber Street Gallery in Hull, 18 January – 31 March 2019 as part of the Liverpool Biennial touring programme.
Film by Carl Davies, FACT Video Production Services