Kinngait artist honoured with prestigious award at Rideau Hall ceremony

For nearly 30 years, Shuvinai Ashoona has used colourful pencil-and-ink drawings to depict northern landscapes and contemporary Inuit life.

On Thursday, the Kinngait artist was honoured for her work when she was presented with the Artistic Achievement Award by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

Ashoona is one of eight recipients of this year’s Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts, and the third Inuk to receive the honour.

Germaine Arnaktauyok received the award in 2021, as did the late Kenojuak Ashevak in 2008.

“What you do is so powerful,” Simon told the recipients and the audience.

“Art bridges the gap between minds that might not otherwise connect.”

Created by the Canadian Council for the Arts in 1999, the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts recognize exceptional careers and contributions of artists to the Canadian arts.

Each of the winners receives a medallion and a $25,000 prize.

After receiving her award, Ashoona addressed the room in Inuktitut and a translator provided her remarks in English.

“Thank you for giving me this most important award for the drawings that I love to do,” she said.

“I think about my dad, Kiugak, and my grandmother, Pitseolak, being honoured and now it’s my turn.”

Ashoona’s work has been featured around the world, including a recently opened exhibition in Paris at the Canadian Cultural Centre honouring the 25th anniversary of Nunavut’s creation as a territory.

Her work received a special mention at the 2022 International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in Venice, the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation prize for outstanding contributions to the visual arts in Canada in 2018, and in 2013 she was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

Ashoona was nominated for the governor general’s award by Robert Kardosh, owner of the Marion Scott Gallery in Vancouver which showcases Inuit artists and their work.

The other recipients of the Artistic Achievement Award are Barbara Astman, Greg Staats, Dominique Blain, Don Ritter, and Marjorie Beaucage.

Louise Lemieux Bérubé received the Saidye Bronfman Award and Michelle Jacques was awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award.

Ashoona’s work will be on display with the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts 2024 exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa from Nov. 15 until March 23, 2025.