July 25 to September 21, 2024
See available works
In partnership with Land InSights
Today's Inuit art, through a variety of practices and media, blends tradition and contemporaneity. Lifestyles still imbued with millenia of know-how are a recurring theme in contemporary Inuit artistic endeavours, with iconography specific to northern communities. The impact of climate change, particularly felt in the North, is increasingly reflected in the work of some Inuit artists.
Eldred Allen and Jason Sikoak, both from Kikiak/Rigolet (Nunatsiavut, NL), share a distinctive approach that expresses important transitions in Inuit experience. With fundamentally different practices, these artists offer a pertinent and necessary critical look at realities of Inuit life, past and present. Reflecting on spirituality and colonial issues, Jason Sikoak uses a variety of materials -including sealskin- to address subjects rooted as much in Inuit history as in the present. Drawing on his background in documentary photography, artist Eldred Allen captures powerful moments that convey both the beauty and the complexities of the realities of his territory.
Presented in collaboration with Land InSights, Time and Tide offers a sensible look at the realities of Nunatsiavut communities. The artists guide us through a narrative that presents a rich and very present-day Inuit heritage, inviting us to reflect on the various environmental and cultural transitions that influence it.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Eldred Allen
Eldred Allen (b. 1978, Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, NL) is a self-taught Inuk photographer who captures landscape and wildlife images of his community. His unique perspectives utilize both a handheld camera and UAV/drone. Allen had a solo exhibition “Resemblance” at The Rooms, St. John’s, Newfoundland. He has also participated in group exhibitions including “INUA” at the Winnipeg Art Gallery/Qaumajug; Paris Photo, France; Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto; and La Guilde, Montréal. Allen has received grants from ArtsNL and the Canada Council for the Arts. His work is in private, corporate, and public collections such as RBC and the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts.
Jason Sikoak
Jason Sikoak is an interdisciplinary Inuit artist from Kikiak/Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, now based in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal. They completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Art History at Concordia University, where they are currently pursuing a master's degree. Inspired by elders' stories, Sikoak explores themes of spirituality, colonialism, environment, and contemporary Inuit life. Their works have been exhibited across Canada and are part of several collections, including The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2021, they designed a commemorative piece for the Generations series, Inuit Nunangat, for the Royal Canadian Mint, and also contributed to the design of the Truth and Reconciliation commemorative medal in 2022. In 2024, their name was included in the long list for the prestigious Sobey Art Award.
ABOUT LAND INSIGHTS
LAND InSIGHTS is the driving force behind the Montreal International First People's Festival, a multidisciplinary artistic and cultural event that makes Montreal the nerve centre of Indigenous creativity from the three Americas for ten days in August. Three strategic objectives were set upon their foundation in 1990: create a major First Nations festival in Montreal, commemorate and remember the Great Peace of Montreal 1701 upon its tricentennial, and secure a permanent home for First Cultures in Québec’s metropolis.Mission: Link the artistic and cultural renaissance of First Peoples to the cultural dynamics of a major metropolis within a sustainable development perspective based on friendship between peoples, diversity of sources of expression as a collective cultural wealth to share and recognition of the specificity of First Nations.
Image: Eldred Allen, Mom’s Dickie, 2023. Jason Sikoak, Hunter, 2024.
