Congratulations to the Longlist Recipients of KAMA 2023!

Manasie Akpaliapik is renowned for his large and intricate whalebone sculptures as well as his ability to mix traditional and contemporary elements of Inuit culture within his pieces. Born in Ikpiarjuk (Arctic Bay), NU, and learned to carve from his grandparents and great-aunt who were established artists in their own right, Akpaliapik trained at Red River College in Winnipeg, MB, before apprenticing in Montreal, QC. Preferring to work in bone and stone, Akpaliapik employs the unique variations in texture and colour to create some of his most highly detailed works, such as Shaman Summoning Taleelayuk to Release Animals (1989).
Akpaliapik has been the focus of several solo exhibitions in Canada and abroad with his work held in numerous collections of major institutions including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the National Gallery of. Akpaliapik currently lives and works between Montreal, QC and Ottawa, ON.

Classical soprano Deantha Edmunds, widely recognized as a groundbreaking Inuk soloist and recording artist, has performed on stages across the world. As a songwriter and lyricist, Edmunds highlights contemporary Indigenous issues while bridging musical traditions—including opera, throat singing and drum dancing.

Born in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Nunatsiavut, NL, Billy Gauthier is an artist and activist currently based in North West River, NL. He initially began to carve in 1996—inspired by his cousin, John Terriak, a skilled Nunatsiavut sculptor, to create further works. Gauthier’s exceptionally detailed, mixed-media sculptures combine various materials, such as stone, bone, antler, ivory, sinew and baleen (whalebone) to depict traditional Inuit practices, cosmologies, spirituality, personal memories and more.

Glenn Gear is a Montreal, QC-based animator, filmmaker and visual artist hailing from Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Gear finds inspiration by exploring his identity as an urban Inuk with ancestral ties to Nunatsiavut. Gear’s work often explores his ancestral ties to Nunatsiavut, creating alternative forms of storytelling through animation, archives, collage, installation, painting, and sound. His work also navigates the complex relationships between people, animals, and land, imbuing these shared spaces with humour, mystery, and hope. His films have screened throughout Canada and around the world. When not making new artwork, Gear facilitates workshops in animation production for Indigenous youth.

Maureen Gruben is an installation, performance and textile artist from Tuktoyaktuk, NT. Gruben’s knowledge of the arctic environment is rich and the admiration she feels for what the land offers for both survival and creation, can be felt through her work. Working primarily with fur, hides, skins and manufactured materials, Gruben forges a link between land and community by activating themes around environmentalism, melting ice and Indigenous hunting rights. Gruben has been recognized through many awards and has exhibited across Canada at institutions such as the Art Gallery of Guelph, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona is a multidisciplinary artist from Ottawa, ON, who creates ceramics, prints, graphic art, wallhangings, knitwear and more. Kabloona’s work is inspired by the art of her grandmother, Victoria Mamnguqsualuk, and the colours and bold shapes of her great-grandmother, Jessie Oonark, and often incorporates traditional Inuit stories told through a modern, feminist lens.

Gloria Inugaq Putumiraqtuq is a textile artist and translator from Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake), NU, who currently resides in Ottawa, ON. Her textile work consists primarily of embroidered and appliqued wallhangings, as well as crocheted hats.

Kablusiak is an Inuvialuk artist and curator based in Calgary, AB. Born in Yellowknife, NT and raised in Edmonton, AB they use art and humour as a coping mechanism to subtly address diaspora, and to openly address mental illness; the lighthearted nature of their practice extends gestures of empathy and solidarity. Their work has been exhibited extensively throughout Alberta and Quebec and has been featured in the Summer 2017, Winter 2017, Winter 2018, Winter 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021 issues, and was the cover artist on the Spring 2022 issue of the “Inuit Art Quarterly.” They are represented by Norberg Hall Gallery in Calgary, AB.

Graphic artist and author Ningiukulu Teevee is beloved for her whimsical and narrative-driven work. Based in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU, Teevee made her print collection debut in the 45th Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection in 2004. In the years since, her work has been included in every subsequent collection to date. Through both her visual art and writing, Teevee shares her unique perspective on historical and contemporary Inuit culture, employing a deft ability to translate traditional stories into dynamic compositions. Her debut children’s book Alego (2019) was short-listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award for children’s illustration, and her stories have appeared in the Inuit Art Quarterly. Teevee’s signature walruses have twice been featured on the cover of the Inuit Art Quarterly, first in 2009 and again in 2014 and within the magazine countless times. Her work can be found in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, ON, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Manitoba, among others.

Couzyn van Heuvelen is a sculptor and installation artist with a interest in investigating Inuit tools, methods and innovations in his work. Hailing from Iqaluit, NU, and currently based in Bowmanville, ON, van Heuvelen received his BFA from York University in Toronto, ON in 2011 and his MFA in 2015 from NSCAD University in Halifax, NS. His work fuses traditional practices and forms with contemporary materials and fabrication processes, often reimagining quotidian objects at a monumental scale. Van Heuvelen has created a number of public art installations and in 2019 his first solo touring exhibition, “Bait”, opened at Art Space in Peterborough, ON. In 2018 van Heuvelen was longlisted for the Sobey Art Award, making him the third Inuit artist to receive this honour. His work can be found in the Indigenous Art Collection at Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development Canada among others.