Students put their identities into murals at Kangiqsualujjuaq school

By painting one snowflake and animal image at a time, about 40 Kangiqsualujjuaq high school students have created two murals that now adorn a corridor at Ulluriaq school.

The students were asked in April to create either an animal totem or a snowflake that would represent their identity and which could be included in the murals that would be mounted at the school.

Marie-Chantal Lachance, left, and Nathaly Lessard (in the middle wearing glasses) stand alongside students and teachers showing their paint-covered hands as proof of their hard work. (Photo courtesy of SAUTOZIEUX)

“We wanted to work on perseverance in school,” said Sabrina Langelier, a science teacher at Ulluriaq who started the project. “We wanted students to feel like they were an essential part of our school.”

She said that after hearing comments that the school looked like an “institution” two years ago, she asked the principal if something could be done, like repainting the walls.

“It was an activity that helped them think about what was important in their lives, and then share that,” she said of the students.

Some drew inspiration from hunting, fishing, gaming, hockey or mangas — which are graphic novels — all activities that spoke to their identity.

All together, the project took three weeks to complete with funding from New Paths to Education, a federal program that aims to strengthen Indigenous education systems.

“When they walk around the school, you can see [the students] touch the mural as if they still had a physical link with it,” Langelier said.

The students’ drawings were sent to Nathaly Lessard and Marie-Chantal Lachance, founders of the mural painting group SAUTOZIEUX based in L’ange-Gardien, Que., near Quebec City.

The name is a compression of the French expression saute aux yeux, meaning what jumps out at you, what peaks your interest.

Lessard and Lachance received more than 40 personalized snowflakes, all unique from one another, from students at Ulluriaq and assembled the art into two murals.

Each mural has a distinct theme, and they are situated in the school on walls that face each other.

One mural is set on the land, the other is set underwater.

Lessard and Lachance had done a similar project at Ulluriaq the year before. Since they knew the students and the students trusted them already, this time it was possible to make the mural more personal.

“[The snowflakes] were portraits of each student,” said Lessard. “They thought about them, and put them on paper. There was a process of introspection.”

According to Lessard and Lachance, students who had a difficult time attending school came back just to be part of this project. Nearly 75 per cent of the school’s students participated.

“The smiles they had,” recalled Lachance. “We gave them a moment of happiness, they can’t deny it.”

This was the fourth time SAUTOZIEUX has helped create a mural in Nunavik.

The group visited Kangirsuk twice in 2022 to make a mural with students from Sautjuit school that is now featured on the community’s water treatment plant. And last year, they went to Kangiqsualujjuaq for the first time.

They hope to return to the community again next year to work with elementary school students.

“There was so much wonder in what the high school students were doing, we are sure that this will be a beautiful project as well,” Lachance said.