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Joe Talirunili
printmaker, sculptor
Canadian-Inuit, (c. 1899–1976)
Joe Talirunili was born approximately 50 km north of Puvirnituq, Nunavik, at Neahungnik (which translates as "headache" in English) camp, near Kuujjuaraapik (Great Whale River). Opinion is divided as concerns his date of birth with some claiming 1883, others 1889 and the artist himself claiming 1906. Raised living a traditional lifestyle - moving with the seasons, travelling by dog sled, living off the land - his life experience directly informed his artistic practice. Remembering and recording Arctic life at the turn of the twentieth century was important and a central focus of his art.
Perhaps his most famous body of work is the Migration series of sculptures. These are based on his memory of a particularly traumatic event from his early life in which he and perhaps forty travellers were caught in bad weather while making a crossing at Hudson's Bay. Finding themselves trapped on an ice floe, they had to use the materials from their sleds to construct a boat - an umiak - barely large enough to support everyone, before the ice melted. Several days passed before they made shore. Sadly, not all of the travellers survived. The memory is laid out in twenty-five or thirty sculptural variations of the ordeal.
Well-respected as a sculptor, in 1960 Talirunili was among the co-founders of the Puvirnituq Co-operative, which was one of the first successful artist co-operatives in the region. He contributed many stonecut prints for the Puvirnituq annual print collection, becoming well-known for carving directly into the smooth surface of the prepared stone without preliminary drawings. Talirunili's works have been exhibited across Canada and may be found in such collections as the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, ON), the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University (Kingston, ON), Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (QC), the Winnipeg Art Gallery (MB), and the Itsanitaq Museum (Churchill, MB).
printmaker, sculptor
Canadian-Inuit, (c. 1899–1976)
Joe Talirunili was born approximately 50 km north of Puvirnituq, Nunavik, at Neahungnik (which translates as "headache" in English) camp, near Kuujjuaraapik (Great Whale River). Opinion is divided as concerns his date of birth with some claiming 1883, others 1889 and the artist himself claiming 1906. Raised living a traditional lifestyle - moving with the seasons, travelling by dog sled, living off the land - his life experience directly informed his artistic practice. Remembering and recording Arctic life at the turn of the twentieth century was important and a central focus of his art.
Perhaps his most famous body of work is the Migration series of sculptures. These are based on his memory of a particularly traumatic event from his early life in which he and perhaps forty travellers were caught in bad weather while making a crossing at Hudson's Bay. Finding themselves trapped on an ice floe, they had to use the materials from their sleds to construct a boat - an umiak - barely large enough to support everyone, before the ice melted. Several days passed before they made shore. Sadly, not all of the travellers survived. The memory is laid out in twenty-five or thirty sculptural variations of the ordeal.
Well-respected as a sculptor, in 1960 Talirunili was among the co-founders of the Puvirnituq Co-operative, which was one of the first successful artist co-operatives in the region. He contributed many stonecut prints for the Puvirnituq annual print collection, becoming well-known for carving directly into the smooth surface of the prepared stone without preliminary drawings. Talirunili's works have been exhibited across Canada and may be found in such collections as the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, ON), the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University (Kingston, ON), Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (QC), the Winnipeg Art Gallery (MB), and the Itsanitaq Museum (Churchill, MB).
Artist Objects
Hunting 1982.014.005