Manitoba artist makes “royal robe” for Nunavut’s Lady of the Seal

Artist Teresa Burrows models Our Lady of the Seal, a beaded and seal-furred robe inspired by Tanya Tagaq. (PHOTOS COURTESY TERESA BURROWS)

A detailed look at Tanya Tagaq’s likeness on the back of the robe, rendered in glass beads.

The front of the robe features throatsinging seals and the neck is meant to be like a seal breathing hole.

Weighing in at about 15 kilograms, and replete with sealskin, beadwork and antlers, “Our Lady of the Seal” is not something you’d wear, say, riding a bike.

But it works well as an art piece or a specialty garment and it sure got the attention of its namesake: award-winning throatsinger and performer Tanya Tagaq.

“To me, if you’re the queen of the seal hunt, this is your royal robe,” said Teresa Burrows, the artist who fashioned the robe.

Burrows, who lives near Thompson, Man., is doing a residency at the Art Gallery of Burlington in Ontario where Our Lady of the Seal is currently on display as part of an exhibition called “Can Craft? Craft Can!”, on until the end of October.

Our Lady of the Seal is part of a motherhood series which Burrows is working on to highlight and celebrate the struggles mothers face, including Tagaq.

Speaking from the Burlington gallery Sept. 12, Burrows said she’d been a fan of Tagaq’s for a while and was struck by the backlash Tagaq endured in 2014 when the performer posted a #sealfie on Twitter that showed her daughter beside a freshly harvested seal.

Anti-sealers, including many from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, denigrated and even threatened Tagaq, prompting the Cambridge Bay-born resident to deliver a “Fuck PETA” into the microphone after she won the coveted $30,000 Polaris Music Prize later that year.

Burrows said she was inspired by Tagaq’s strength and conviction in the face of public shaming so she contacted Tagaq and asked if she could use a photo to start beading her likeness into fabric. Eventually it morphed into a robe fit for a seal queen.

“We all have different lives and lifestyles and what would be part of one person’s lifestyle obviously has a big impact on someone else’s lifestyle—if they don’t understand it,” Burrows said.

“But I just loved her response to it. I loved that she continued to be this feisty person that said, ‘I’m not going to be put into your particular little box and bow to your ideas.’”

Denis Longchamps, artistic director and chief curator at the Art Gallery of Burlington, said once he heard the story behind Our Lady of the Seal, he wanted to include it in the exhibition because it dovetailed well into the show’s three themes: identify, materiality and sustainability.

The piece uses seal skin, antlers, beads and velvet, he said, it tells stories of Sedna, seals and throatsinging, and seal meat is a sustainable source of food for Inuit.

“The piece is stellar and engages well with all three themes,” Longchamps wrote in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

“I was impressed by her technical skills that are simply stunning. With this work, Teresa brought to the fore the cultural heritage of Tanya Tagaq, a rich heritage blending Scottish and Inuit traditions and stories of creation.”

Burrows, whose art pieces often include materials from nature along with recycled and repurposed furs and fabrics, says she comes from a family of artists and activists so it seemed fitting to do a portrait of another artist and activist.

After a few years of correspondence and attempts to get together thwarted by busy schedules, Burrows and Tagaq finally met recently after one of Tagaq’s shows in Ontario and it was more like a reunion than a first meeting, Burrows said.

Tagaq said she wanted to wear the robe on stage but it’s not available right now because it’s on display at the gallery. So Burrows said she is making Tagaq a beaded dress that she can wear that weighs significantly less than 15 kg and is more suitable as stage apparel.

And while she’s not sure where Our Lady of the Seal will go once the AGB exhibition is over, she has had some inquiries and leads.

“I’m game for all sorts of things. My husband, you know, he wants these works to be out there, as opposed to in our house,” she said, with a laugh.

“I’m the kind of person who really likes works to be out there, for people to see them. That’s the whole reason artists make works. You want people to enjoy them.”