Igloolik artist’s drum-dance design appears on new $2 coin

MICHAELA RODRIGUE
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — For centuries Inuit told their children about their past through the drum dance.

Igloolik artist Germaine Arnaktauyok hopes her depiction of the drum dance will tell the rest of Canada about a new chapter in Inuit history.

Arnaktauyok’s drawing of an Inuit man drum dancing is now on a new $2 coin that commemorates the creation of Nunavut.

Reached at her Igloolik home, Arnaktauyok said she chose the image of the drum dancer to signify the rest of Canada hearing Nunavut’s people.

“When Nunavut become Inuit property, we thought — finally we will be able to be heard in Canada and internationally — you can hear that drum,” she said.

Arnaktauyok has drawn drum dancers for many years, but for this special project she added the images of a qulliq and a map outlining Nunavut within the drum.

The qulliq signifies the “security and warmth in Nunavut,” Arnaktauyok said.

The coin not only commemorates Nunavut, but is one of two $2 coins marking the new millennium, said Royal Canadian Mint spokesperson Pierre Morin. Meant for circulation, at least 10 million of Arnaktauyok’s coin will be produced.

It will replace the polar bear on the current $2 coin for the next year. A special collectors’ edition of the coin is also available.

Arnaktauyok’s work was chosen out of five designs submitted by Inuit artists. She submitted her proposal more than a year ago and only first saw the finished product at an unveiling ceremony in Ottawa last week.

“My impression was that it was well done,” Arnaktauyok said.

“When something happens like that. It’s one little step further that I have accomplished. It’s a very pleasant feeling that my artwork was chosen.”

Arnaktauyok is one of Nunavut’s best-known artists. She has received formal training at fine and commercial arts schools throughout Canada, and her illustrations have been used in several children’s books.

Her work has been commissioned by companies, organizations and governments.

Her latest honour received praise in the Nunavut legislature last week from Premier Paul Okalik. Education Minister James Arvaluk also rose to pay tribute to Arnaktauyok, who is his cousin.

“I am very proud of this coin and she’s a tremendous artist and I am very proud of her,” Arvaluk told the legislature.

The coin, is expected to remain in circulation for about 20 years. It is the second of two recent coins to showcase Inuit art. In April a new 25-cent coin featuring the art of Kenojuak Ashevak was unveiled by the Canadian Mint.