Inuk artist Tarralik Duffy says she doesn’t like to waste inspiration

Tarralik Duffy picked up $25,000 as a finalist in the Sobey Art Award contest and her work is now exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada, but the Inuk artist from Coral Harbour is already thinking about what’s next.

She was one of six finalists in the Sobey Art Award contest when results for 2025 were announced Saturday night at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

Tarralik Duffy’s Klik, a hand-sewn soft sculpture of canned luncheon meat comments on how traditional Inuit foods are contrasted by processed products at the Northern grocery stores. (Photo by Nehaa Bimal)

“The thing about every exhibition is it does make you think about the next one, or like, what do you want to do the next time,” Duffy said in an interview Saturday night after the award’s grand prize was announced.

Tania Willard, a B.C. artist with First Nations and settler heritage, won the contest’s grand prize of $100,000.

“Let’s make more of this happen for more artists,” Willard said in her acceptance speech, encouraging more support of Canadian artists. “I think I can change the world.”

The four other finalists were Chukwudubem Ukaigwe, Sandra Brewster, Swapnaa Tamhane and Hangama Amiri.

In a video that’s part of her exhibit, Duffy says her art is influenced by Inuit traditions of not wasting anything. As an artist, she extends that to not wasting ideas, including the inspiration for projects.

The inspiration “sneaks up on you,” she said in an interview.

“It will present itself to you at night. And sometimes for me, it’s like a repetitive thing, like, and it won’t leave me alone until I do it.”

The pieces Duffy has exhibited at the National Gallery until Feb. 8, 2026 include oversized reproductions — sewn from leather and stuffed with polyester and other materials — of grocery items that are common and popular in the North. They include a Kuuka Kula can, a Klik canned luncheon meat and two oversized jerry cans for carrying gasoline.

Duffy agreed that grocery prices in Nunavut are “ridiculous,” but she wasn’t trying to make a statement about them with artwork depicting soft drink or canned-meat cans.

“Of course, it’s commentary, but sometimes it’s just as simple as, I want to draw something because I want to draw it,” said Duffy, who is now based in Saskatoon, Sask.

“In the moment, it’s just drawing the can. Or like sewing the can. But that’s the beauty of things. It can start as something so simple, but there’s a depth to it.”

Duffy said “it blew my mind a little bit” that being shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award means her art is on display in a gallery that holds artwork that has endured for centuries.

“It’s going to be on Earth longer than I will,” she said.

“So will aluminum pop can garbage, you know?”