From gallery vaults to spotlight, late Nunavik artist honoured at Ottawa Art Gallery

“I don’t actually know if there’s a start or an end to this story. I don’t think it matters.”

That’s how Rebecca Basciano, chief curator at the Ottawa Art Gallery, describes the stories depicted in The Way It Was, a more than 27-metre scroll made by Inuk artist Normee Ekoomiak.

The exhibition, “ᓄᐊᒥ ᐃᕐᕈᒥᐊᖅ | NORMEE EKOOMIAK” runs at the Ottawa Art Gallery until Aug. 30. (Photo by Nehaa Bimal)

Created in the 1970s using felt-tip markers on paper, this work unfolds a continuous panorama depicting Inuit life — featuring polar bears, seal hunting, fishing, drying fish, harpooning, portaging, a blanket toss, and daily subsistence activities across Nunavik.

“This scroll, from the Art Gallery of Guelph’s collection, has never been publicly displayed due to its fragility,” Basciano said.

“I don’t think it had ever been fully unrolled before, so we didn’t know what to expect or what was on it.”

With support from a professional paper conservator and photographer, and alongside co-curator and Kuujjuaq-born writer Taqralik Partridge, the scroll was unrolled and captured in full, revealing a work longer than 27 metres.

“We’re showing it two different ways,” Basciano said.

“As he would have been making it, at a table, so we project it flat to appreciate the little details. And also as an immersive surround, where you can experience the geography of Nunavik.”

Rebecca Basciano, who co-curated the exhibit at the Ottawa Art Gallery, examines the tabletop version of Normee Ekoomiak’s scroll. “We have this 90-foot scroll in one continuous stream, but there’s vignettes where you can stop and appreciate,” she says. (Photo by Nehaa Bimal)

This exhibition marks the first major retrospective dedicated to Ekoomiak’s work.

The curators tracked down his artwork, including an embroidered vest, seat cushion and amautiit, through donations, private collections and even Facebook groups like Inuit Art Enthusiasts.

“It was hard to find his pieces,” said Basciano.

“But I knew he was so prolific and that he made so much. I knew they were out there, I just didn’t have the connections.”

The exhibition was supported by a number of institutional lenders and partners, including the Quebec-based Avataq Cultural Institute and Canadian Museum of History, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ont., Ottawa Inner City Health Centre Inc., the Ottawa Mission, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Born in Cape Jones, Que., on the southern shore of Hudson Bay, in 1948, Ekoomiak grew up in Fort George (now Chisasibi, Que.,) and spent much of his adult life in Ottawa. He combined sewing techniques learned from his grandfather and mother with formal art training at George Brown College.

However, he remained relatively unknown to the broader art world despite his many wall hangings, paintings like The Last Woolly Mammoth and two published children’s books. Partridge said she found that surprising.

“I think his work is really up there with a lot of really well-known historic artists,” she said.

“But because of the way he became an artist and because he was living in a small artist community within a big city, he didn’t have as much notoriety during his lifetime.”

That’s why the curators decided to simply name the exhibition Normee Ekoomiak.

“So when people look at the work, see the work online, they identify that work with his name,” said Partridge.

Depictions of ukpik, or the snowy owl, appear throughout the exhibition.

“Owls were his heartbeat,” said Basciano. “As you wrap your way around, you end the show with another majestic owl.”

Despite his later years being marked by homelessness and illness, Ekoomiak never stopped making art until his death in 2009 at the age of 61.

“Nothing gives me as much pleasure as the craft I learned on my grandfather’s knee,” he once wrote in his 1980 book, An Arctic Childhood, which is included in the show.

When the show opened this spring, two of Ekoomiak’s sisters came from Montreal to see the exhibit.

“It was just really beautiful to see them experiencing the work, talk about their memories of him, and they were just so proud of him,” said Partridge.

She said getting to encounter Ekoomiak’s work was “a treat,” especially alongside the Revival: Printmaking in Nunavik (2014–2019) exhibit that’s also currently at the Ottawa gallery.

“The great thing about both exhibits is that Inuit curators have been involved in putting them together,” said Partridge.

“We bring a level of storytelling to exhibitions of Inuit art that is much more rich and full of the history and the knowledge of Inuit culture.”

ᐊᒥ ᐃᕐᕈᒥᐊᖅ | NORMEE EKOOMIAK will be on display until Aug. 24 at the Ottawa Art Gallery.