Iqaluit artist brings Nunavut cross country through tissue boxes

The view from Iqaluit artist Yurak’s Apex window is making its way into Canadian homes, one tissue box at a time.

Iqaluit artist Yurak holds two Royale tissue boxes showing the reverse sides of Brilliance Beyond the Horizon and Tuktuliaq. The two designs are featured in Royale’s Canadian Artist Collection. (Photo by Mosha Folger)

The design, Brilliance Beyond the Horizon, shows a frozen landscape and waters of Frobisher Bay. It’s one of two designs that Yurak, the pen name of Siku Rojas, created for Royale, a Canadian household paper-products brand, as part of the company’s new Canadian Artist Collection.

The limited-edition collection features eight designs by five artists from across the country, each asked to interpret what home means to them through the theme The View From Here.

“I think that’s the lovely thing about this campaign, is that they want to show that Canada is so vast and we’re a very multicultural country,” Yurak said.

Last winter, a public relations agency working with Royale asked Yurak to participate in the collection. The multi-media artist completed the project before January.

Rather than create separate illustrations for each side of the box, Yurak drew one wrap-around piece.

“What I was trying to do is consider what I wanted the rest of Canada to know about my ideas of home, of Nunavut, and not even just what everyday life is, but what our aspirations are,” they said.

The first design, Brilliance Beyond the Horizon, is a snapshot of the landscape outside Yurak’s home.

“I really wanted viewers, and Inuit who are seeing my art, to also consider what is beyond the horizon and what more beautiful things can we do,” they said.

The flipside features fireweed, purple saxifrage — Nunavut’s territorial flower — and Arctic heather, as well as berries and other plants harvested for food.

The artwork also includes cultural tattoos and beadwork, which Yurak said represent the skills and crafts that Nunavummiut contribute to Canada.

The second design, Tuktuliak, which is caribou hunting in Inuktitut, depicts where Yurak hunted with family last September and harvested a caribou for the first time, about two hours outside Iqaluit.

“I’m always trying to reopen minds and to keep reminding the rest of the world of the importance of hunting, because I know oftentimes people have a negative feeling towards it,” Yurak said.

Both pieces were created on an iPad. Royale provided a colour scheme, but Yurak added additional colours, including reds in Tuktuliak to reflect the fall landscape.

“I really wanted to keep it being colourful for these boxes to, again, remove that white snow slate that people depict,” Yurak said.

The finished boxes arrived at Yurak’s home a couple of weeks ago, and the response has been positive so far.

“Everyone’s wanting access to it and wondering where to purchase it,” Yurak said. “People are saying that they even want to keep reusing it, which is very funny.”

The Royale Canadian Artist Collection will be available this month at Home Hardware locations in Rankin Inlet and Arviat and can also be ordered online through Amazon and other retailers.