Toronto art show displays the changing Inuit lifestyle

The bone carving called “Mother Delousing Child” shows a mother removing lice from her child’s hair. Gjoa Haven carver Nelson Takkiruq’s piece is one of 175 in the exhibition “Inuit Modern,” which runs until Oct. 6 at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. (IMAGE/ AGO)

TORONTO — Long-time Inuit art collectors Esther and Sam Sarick say art collectors are only custodians of their works for a limited time.

For this Toronto-based couple, that time started before there were any scheduled flights to the Arctic.

Then, the Saricks used to hitch rides on government planes to northern communities, where they headed directly to the local co-ops, meeting with Inuit artists and buying their art.

After many years, the Saricks’ collection numbered thousands of works.

And that’s when they decided their collection belonged to the public.

Now, 175 of their pieces by 75 different Inuit artists are on display at Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario in a recently-opened exhibit called “Inuit Modern.”

The works in this exhibit document the changes to the traditional Inuit lifestyle.

One panel on display explains the development of the Arctic co-operative movement, which encouraged the creation of art for the southern market.

Visitors to the gallery see how Inuit art, inspired by contact and modern technology, has evolved.

“RCMP and Inuit family,” by the late Kananginak Pootoogook, shows the tensions between the past and present, as a police officer points at a traditionally-dressed couple and their crying child. A skin tent stands in the background.

“Sewage Truck,” by Cape Dorset’s Shuvinai Ashoona, shows a sewage truck dumping waste at a landfill carved out of a rocky landscape, while a plane flies overhead.

Then, there are works by Annie Pootoogook, which take you into a modern Arctic home. She depicts everyday scenes — men playing cards, a woman at the fridge.

“Inuit Modern” tries to bring Torontonians to the Arctic landscape: the exhibit is presented in a large, white and high-ceilinged space, where light streams through the gallery’s front windows.

A film runs also from an interpretive booth in the centre of the exhibit. It shows men in parkas seated on their qamutik out on the land, chopping ice and lighting a lamp to make tea.

Another clip shows a brightly lit igloo where a woman chips away at frozen meat with her ulu. The sound of singing fills the exhibition.

Its most powerful carvings include a work by the late Gjoa Haven carver Nelson Takkiruq, who used whale bone, ivory, stone and horn to carve out “Mother Delousing Child,” showing a mother preparing to remove lice from her child’s hair.

Puvirnituq carver Eli Sallualu Qinuajua produced a sleek, curving and somewhat-weird carving called, “Fantastic Figure,” featured on the cover of catalogue to “Inuit Modern.”

The 272-page catalogue, co-published by the Art Gallery of Ontario and Douglas & McIntyre Inc., includes forewords by the exhibit’s co-curators and the collection’s owners.

There, collectors Esther and Sam Sarick stress the importance of sharing Inuit art with a southern audience.

“We believe that it is the only truly Canadian art form. Heads of state from other countries are always presented with a piece of Inuit art. We must foster this legacy. It’s an inheritance not to be wasted.”

“Inuit Modern” runs until Oct. 16.

The Art Gallery of Ontario is located at 317 Dundas Street West in Toronto. Admission is $19.50 for adults; $11 for students and children.

The late Puvirnituq sculptor Eli Sallualu Qinuajua explored surrealism in many of his carvings. His “Fantastic Figure” in soapstone is currently on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. (IMAGE/ AGO)