Art + Waste in Panniqtuuq

Positioned at the intersection of art, politics, and activism, this exhibition presents the work of an ad hoc group of artists aiming to bring awareness to the Arctic community of Panniqtuuq and its urgent waste crisis. Inuit artists Madeleine Aasivak Qumuataq, Jupa Ishulutak, Kawtysie Kakee, Annie Kilabuk (1932-2005), David Kilabuk, Talia Metuq, Oleepika Nashalik, and Malaya Pitsiulak, with settler artist and researcher, Micky Renders, present a body of work that unearths personal and collective stories from lived experience providing a powerful counter-narrative to commonly held notions about the Inuit, settler colonialism, and waste itself.

Panniqtuuq, Nunavut, is a remote community of about 1,500 (mostly) Inuit located on the East Coast of Baffin Island. The climate crisis is causing the Arctic Permafrost to melt, resulting in a rapid degradation of its delicate ecosystem. As demand increases for natural resources, shipping and cruise ships multiply with the opening of the Northwest Passage, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) rapidly expanding, unprecedented volumes of waste and contaminants are causing dramatic changes and damage to the land, sea, ice, and its inhabitants. At the heart of the problem lies an alien culture of wasting and a capitalist system that counters the sustainable, semi-nomadic life the Inuit have led for millennia.

This exhibition centers the voices of Inuit artists to share their stories through painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, tapestry and digital media. This show aims to open axes of dialogue and support for Inuit sovereignty, self-determination, and the right to a healthy and safe environment. It ultimately asks us: who gets to define Arctic waste and who is responsible for it?

Madeleine Aasivak Qumuataq

Maya Pitsiulak
Shopping the Old Way
soapstone carving

David Kilabuk

Talia Metuq

Jupa Ishulutak

Oleepika Nashalik

Micky Renders
# 2 Research the ‘Expert’ and the North (or, Who is that white dude)

Madeleine Aasivak Qumuatuk is a respected knowledge holder, translator, and cultural activist who was born, lives and works in Panniqtuuq, NU. A feminist force for Inuit advocacy and wellness for over 30 years, she has served as Acting President of the Nunavut Status of Women Council, and Adviser to the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) and Consultant for Parks Canada. She has also consulted on many academic research projects, drawing on her vast knowledge of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (traditional Inuit knowledge). Qumuatuk was voted Nunavut Woman of the Year in 2011, and she credits her namesake with instilling in her strength and resilience. Her artwork reflects her deep connection to traditional Inuit life and her commitment to justice and advocacy.

Jupa Ishulutak captures the evolving realities of Inuit life, balancing tradition with transformation in his carvings. Ishulutak describes how making art is a means of survival. He is a third-generation carver and jewellery maker, and the father of eight children. His work explores themes of survival, adaptation, and resilience, incorporating imagery of wildlife, shamanic figures, and modern elements such as snowmobiles, airplanes, and houses. Ishulutak’s work highlights how Inuit maintain cultural identity while adapting to settler colonial intrusions and serves as a bridge between past and present, contributing to Inuit self-definition and continuity. He was part of the Arctic Adaptations exhibition in the Canadian Pavillion at the 2014 Venice Biennale in Architecture and his work is included in collections across Canada and beyond.  

Kawtysie Kakee is a master weaver from Panniqtuuq (Pangnirtung), NU and the original collaborating artist for, Women Cleaning Sealskins. Kakee wove the eighth edition of the work, which is included in this exhibition. For over 50 years she has been working with textiles after beginning to work at the Panniqtuuq tapestry studio in 1975. Kakee’s was featured in Nuvisavik: The Place Where We Weave (2002), an exhibition at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, QC, that displayed artwork created in the Panniqtuuq studio to highlight the history of the region and artists’ involvement in their community. Her work has been exhibited at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Winnipeg, MB, the gallery at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, NS, and at the Upstairs Gallery in Winnipeg, MB.

Annie Kilabuk (1932 – 2005) was a skilled graphic and print artist, born at Qimmisuuq, a nomadic camp. She was 36 when she moved to the permanent settlement of Panniqtuuq. Kilabuk was skilled at embroidery, which led to designing and making dolls, toys and other crafts. She soon became well-known for her drawings and prints, which were often used as tapestry designs. The original image for, Women Cleaning Sealskins, began as a work on paper by Kilabuk. In an interview, Kilabuk said, “I have to do a lot of thinking before I put stories onto paper. I like to tell stories for future generations. My drawings will still be there even after I am dead.” 

David Kilabuk is a photographer based in Panniqtuuq (Pangnirtung), NU who captures the stories of his home community through photography. He was selected as one of “Six Photographers to Watch” in the Winter 2016 issue of Inuit Art Quarterly. As the unofficial photographer of Panniqtuuq, his patience, skill and sensitivity as a photographer have, for over 25 years, resulted in iconic photographs of contemporary Inuit life and the surrounding natural world, appearing in Up Here Magazine, Nunatsiaq News, CBC North, Canadian Geographic, and included in the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada. He won the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers (2017) and Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Medal (2002) for both citizenship and photography.

Talia Metuq is an Inuk game developer, an organizer of the Makerspace movement in Nunavut, and the Community Engagement and the Special Projects Coordinator at Ampere (Pinnguaq Association). She designs programs that range from adult digital skills classes to youth camps in northern Indigenous communities, focusing on STEAM education that reinforces and supports traditional knowledge and practices. She studied at Fleming College (Haliburton), the Visual College of Art and Design (Vancouver), and Trent University (Peterborough). Metuq also enjoys beading earrings and designing traditionally inspired clothing through knitting and sewing.

Oleepika Nashalik is an Inuit artist whose powerful and expressive drawings and paintings contrast aspects of the traditional Inuit way of life with modern ways, reflecting on how the two cultures are bound together through contradicting material and cultural shifts seen in her lifetime, understood in a historical and geopolitical context. A renowned seamstress, Nashalik works with traditional methods using skins and furs to create contemporary designs, skillfully responding to external influences on Inuit culture and adapting them to her purposes.

Malaya Pitsiulak was born in Opingvik, an uninhabited Baffin Island offshore island and one of the last outposts—a day’s boat ride from Panniqtuuq. Pitsiulak grew up on the land where she received a traditional Inuit education from her father, master carver, artist and activist Lypa Pitsiulak. She is one of only a few female carvers in Nunavut, an excellent markswoman, fisher, and runs the last dog team in Panniqtuuq. One of her most significant carvings, made from the 200-pound skull of a bowhead whale, is part of the collection at the Qaumajuq Center for Inuit Art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Pitsuliak was also part of the Arctic Adaptations exhibition in the Canadian Pavillion at the 2014 Venice Biennale in Architecture. Her sculptures are included in many public and private collections, and she has been recently commissioned by the Government of Canada.

Micky Renders is a multidisciplinary artist from Peterborough, Ontario. Her career as an artist, activist, and educator spans over 30 years, for which she has received national recognition. This exhibition formed a major part of her interdisciplinary research-creation PhD dissertation in Environmental Studies from Queen’s University (2025). Renders was awarded the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Doctoral Prize for her work.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. / Ce projet a été soutenu par le Conseil des arts du Canada.