Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine Spring 2018 | Page 22

C U LT U R E
THE LEGACY of
KENOJUAK
ASHEVAK
BY L E S L I E B OY D
Our country’s most acclaimed Inuit artist, Kenojuak
Askevak forged a career that spanned more than five decades,
from the release of her first print in 1959 until her death in 2013
at the age of 85. During that time, her images were published
in over 300 original print editions and she composed over
2,000 original drawings, which are now in the care of the
McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario.
She supported herself and her family entirely on the income
earned from her art; an extraordinary accomplishment for
an Inuit woman born in her time and place.
Kenojuak was born in 1927 on south Baffin Island at a
camp area known as Ikirisaq. She grew up in the traditional
Inuit way,