Ningiukulu Teevee wins the 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award

Artist Ningiukulu Teevee is known for her bright, playful depictions and retellings of Inuit stories

Winnipeg, Manitoba, September 22, 2023:

The Inuit Art Foundation (IAF) is thrilled to announce that graphic artist Ningiukulu Teevee has won the 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award (KAMA), a biennial prize that celebrates excellence in Inuit art. KAMA supports the practice of an Inuk artist by facilitating opportunities for artistic development and career growth.

Teevee was named winner of the $20,000 award at the September 22 ceremony hosted at Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq (WAG-Qaumajuq), programming partner on the award. The special night included the opening celebration of Gasoline Rainbows, the solo exhibition from the 2021 KAMA winner, Tarralik Duffy. The ceremony included opening remarks and performances by Nikki Komaksiutisak. The winner announcement was made by 2021 KAMA winner Tarralik Duffy.

In addition to the $20,000 prize, Teevee will receive a residency at WAG-Qaumajuq, a solo exhibition and exhibition catalogue, thanks to the support of RBC Emerging Artists. WAG-Qaumajuq will also acquire one of Teevee’s artworks into its permanent collection. Ningiukulu Teevee’s solo exhibition is scheduled for fall 2025, when the next Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award winner will be announced.

Based in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU, Ningiukulu Teevee is a celebrated graphic artist who is best known for her bright, modern reimagining of traditional stories featuring playful depictions of Arctic animals and people. Her work is included in many public and private collections around the world, including 47 artworks in the WAG-Qaumajuq collection, 18 of which are on loan from the Government of Nunavut, and has been included in more than 40 group exhibitions and ten solo shows. Through her art, Teevee shares her unique perspective on historical and contemporary Inuit culture, employing a deft ability to translate traditional stories into dynamic compositions.

Founded thanks to the tremendous support of the Inuit art community, the Inuit Art Foundation’s Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award celebrates practicing artists and honours the legacy of artist Kenojuak Ashevak and her unparalleled impact on generations of Inuit artists. KAMA supports Inuit artists to reach new, international audiences and develop their practices through prizes, access to new platforms and opportunities to create work. An external, all-Inuit jury determines the KAMA longlist, shortlist and winner. This year’s jury was composed of Tarralik Duffy, KAMA 2021 winner; Jocelyn Piirainen, Associate Curator of Indigenous Ways and Decolonization at the National Gallery of Canada; and Logan Ruben, visual artist.

Quick Facts: 

• Ningiukulu Teevee is a graphic artist and author from Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU. Her work was first introduced to the world through her inclusion in the 2004 Cape Dorset Print Collection, which has included her work every year since. This was followed by her first solo exhibition, Ningiukulu Teevee: Drawings, hosted by Feheley Fine Arts in 2006. Her work often features playful retellings of traditional Inuit stories and experiences cast in rich colour and texture.
• The 2023 KAMA shortlist artists were Billy Gauthier, Maureen Gruben, Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona, Kablusiak, and Ningiukulu Teevee. Their work is currently on display at WAG-Qaumajuq in the group exhibition Anaanatta Unikkaangit (Our Mother’s Stories).
• Anaanatta Unikkaangit (Our Mother’s Stories) honours the stories, the work, and the care of mothers and grandmothers—like Kenojuak Ashevak—that guides contemporary Inuit art. The artwork selected to represent each of the shortlisted artists in this exhibition not only demonstrates their excellence, but it also reveals the heart of their respective practices: anaanatta unikkaangit.
• The Inuit Art Foundation’s Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award is a biennial prize that celebrates and supports Inuit artists by facilitating opportunities for artistic development and career growth. Established in 2014 by generous members of the Inuit art community, this award honours the life and work of the late Kenojuak Ashevak, and her unparalleled contributions to the cultural life and arts of Inuit Nunangat and beyond.
• The award recognizes a longlist of 10 artists who each receive $2,500, a shortlist of five artists who each receive $5,000, and a prize winner who receives $20,000. The winning artist receives a solo exhibition at WAG-Qaumajuq, an accompanying exhibition publication, and WAG-Qaumajuq will acquire an artwork from the artist for its permanent collection. The prize also includes an artist-in-residency program, hosted at WAG-Qaumajuq.
• The longlist, shortlist, and winner of KAMA are all determined by an all-Inuit jury.

Quotes:  

“My hugest congratulations to Ning Teevee for this thrilling and much deserved award. Teevee has been producing storied, thoughtful, humorous and insightful works of art for nearly two decades, and for her many contributions to the graphic arts she richly deserves this recognition. She is an artist-storyteller of the highest caliber whose evocative prints and drawings have the power to transport viewers to familiar spaces and scenes in the North, whether she is picturing a pot of soup bubbling on the stove, or Inuit playing traditional games in the local gym. Her vividly patterned and textured animal and human portraits are particularly sublime, especially when depicting mischievous transformations between human and animal forms on the nuna. Kudos to the jury for this brilliant selection, as well as the shortlist and longlist; it must have been quite challenging to pick one artist from such an exciting and diverse pool.”

— Dr. Heather Igloliorte, President, Inuit Art Foundation

“We at RBC couldn’t be more excited to congratulate Ningiukulu Teevee as the 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award winner. Ningiukulu’s bold and joyful work brings delight and curiosity to all who have a chance to engage with her art. We can’t wait to see her work advance and evolve, and look forward to her impact and contributions to WAG-Qaumajuq.”

— Kim Ulmer, RBC Regional President – Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut and Western Ontario

“Congratulations to Ningiukulu Teevee on the well-deserved recognition of her work through the Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award. We’re thrilled to be able to support Inuit artistic practice at WAG-Qaumajuq through our partnership with the Inuit Art Foundation and RBC Emerging Artists. Ningiukulu’s work is at times playfully eerie, illuminating the humour and storytelling of Inuit. We are looking forward to hosting Ningiukulu and her future solo show at WAG-Qaumajuq!”  

— Dr. Stephen Borys, Director & CEO, WAG-Qaumajuq

“I’m delighted for Ningiukulu Teevee to receive the Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award for 2023, as her work has been truly inspiring and she has demonstrated her brilliant artistic expression. Alianait! Congrats!”  

— Jocelyn Piirainen, Jury Member

“Not many artists make me wish I had come up with an idea, I’m very happy with the inspirations that come to me but Ningiukuluk makes me stop in total covetous wonder, her work is unlike anyone else’s and I often marvel at her brilliance and humour. She’s the best. Simple as that.”  

— Tarralik Duffy, 2021 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award recipient, Jury Member

“The unmistakable presence of spirit within Ningiukulu’s work bears a striking resonance with the heart and history of the Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award.”  

— Logan Ruben, Jury Member

Support

The Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award is generously supported by RBC Emerging Artists, as well as individual members of the Inuit art community.

Associated Links

Ningiukulu Teevee’s IAQ Profile
Anaanatta Unikkaangit (Our Mother’s Stories)
Inuit Art Foundation
Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award
Tarralik Duffy: Gasoline Rainbows

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For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact:  

Katryna Barske
Public Relations Officer
Winnipeg Art Gallery
204.789.1295
kbarske@wag.ca

Alysa Procida
Executive Director
Inuit Art Foundation
647.498.7717 x 101
aprocida@inuitartfoundation.org

About Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)-Qaumajuq
WAG-Qaumajuq is a cultural advocate using art to connect, inspire, and inform. Playing a dynamic role in the community, we are a place for learning, dialogue, and enjoyment through art. Opened in March 2021, Qaumajuq connects to the WAG on all levels, celebrating the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world. The new WAG-Qaumajuq cultural campus is now one of the largest art museums in Canada. To learn more visit wag.ca. 

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About Inuit Art Foundation
Established in 1987, the Inuit Art Foundation provides support to Canada’s Inuit arts communities and is the sole national body mandated to promote Inuit artists and art within Canada and internationally. The IAF is deeply invested in the rich history and tradition of Canada’s Inuit artistic expressions while actively contributing to the growth and development of these unique and diverse contemporary art practices. The IAF undertakes advocacy on behalf of Inuit artists and realizes a number of strategies aimed at enhancing the appreciation and interpretation of Inuit art. The Inuit Art Foundation is supported by the private sector along with contributions from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and other public agencies. A volunteer, Inuit artist majority Board of Directors oversees the IAF.

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