Shuvinai Ashoona was born in 1961 in Kinngait, Nunavut, and still lives and works in Kinngait. Solo exhibitions of Ashoona’s work have been organized at The Power Plant, in Toronto (2019), CCA Glasgow (2020), ICA Miami (2020), the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum, in Iqaluit (2013), MacKenzie Art Gallery, in Regina (2012), Carleton University Art Gallery, in Ottawa (2009), and the Art Gallery of Alberta, in Edmonton (2006). Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at venues including the Esker Foundation, in Calgary (2017), the Art Gallery of Ontario, in Toronto (2017), Mercer Union, in Toronto (2016), the National Gallery of Canada, in Ottawa (2014), and SITE Santa Fe (2014). In 2018, Shuvinai Ashoona received the Gershon Iskowitz Prize and, in 2022, she was awarded one of two special mentions by the jury of the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
“For more than two decades, Inuk artist Shuvinai Ashoona has been changing the face of Inuit art and, more generally, that of contemporary Canadian art. […] Ashoona’s innovative drawings, many of which are ambitiously scaled, freely mix elements drawn from historic Inuit culture with contemporary references to more recent history and popular culture. […] Never content to follow rules and expectations, Ashoona’s unconventional artistic vision has successfully challenged and revolutionized how the public perceives Inuit art and contemporary Indigenous art more generally, helping to create a new space for expression and artistic freedom.”
Nominator: Robert Kardosh, Director and owner, Marion Scott Gallery
See the artist’s works that are part of the Canada Council Art Bank collection.
“Ashoona’s unconventional artistic vision has successfully challenged and revolutionized how the public perceives Inuit art[.]”
Selected works
Shuvinai Ashoona, A for Sure World, 2009, coloured pencil, graphite and ink on paper, 50.16 x 64.77 cm.
Private collection.
Photo credit: Charles Bateman. Courtesy of the Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver.
Shuvinai Ashoona, untitled (man sleeping with clams), 2010, ink on paper, 64.77 x 49.53 cm.
Private collection.
Photo credit: Charles Bateman. Courtesy of the Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver.
Shuvinai Ashoona, Untitled (man with upside-down face), 2011, coloured pencil, graphite and ink on paper, 121.8 x 122 cm.
Photo credit: David Hannan
Shuvinai Ashoona, Untitled (world with insects and monsters), 2015, coloured pencil, graphite and ink on paper, 63.5 x 64.6 cm.
Photo credit: David Hannan
Shuvinai Ashoona, Untitled (creature with globe head & others), 2016, coloured pencil, graphite and ink on paper, 230.5 x 121.5 cm.
Photo credit: David Hannan
Shuvinai Ashoona, Untitled (group of people, bones, earths & walrus creature), 2018, coloured pencil, graphite and ink on paper, 126.8 x 63.5 cm.
Photo credit: David Hannan
Shuvinai Ashoona, Untitled (two octopus creatures wrapping tentacles around globes), 2019, coloured pencil, graphite and ink on paper, 175.2 x 127.7 cm.
Photo credit: David Hannan
Shuvinai Ashoona, untitled (surreal octopus), 2021, coloured pencil and ink on paper, 183.52 x 127 cm.
Private collection.
Photo credit: Charles Bateman. Courtesy of the Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver.
Shuvinai Ashoona, untitled (polyhedron), 2022, coloured pencil and graphite on paper, 23.5 x 23.5 x 23.5 cm.
Private collection.
Photo credit: Byron Dauncey. Courtesy of the Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver.
Shuvinai Ashoona, untitled (octahedron), 2022, coloured pencil and graphite on paper, 21.6 x 15.25 x 15.25 cm.
Private collection.
Photo credit: Byron Dauncey. Courtesy of the Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver.
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