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On display is a collection of printed textiles produced in Arctic Canada as part of a short-lived experimental initiative to highlight the work of Indigenous graphic artists in the 1950s and 1960s.

“The Arctic Museum is excited to be the first US venue to host this important exhibit,” said curator Genny Lemoine. “It gives New England audiences the chance to see these remarkable, rarely seen textiles and learn about the Inuit artists who created them.”

The landmark exhibition , ᖃᓪᓗᓈᖅᑕᐃᑦ ᓯᑯᓯᓛᕐᒥᑦ Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios, is on  loan from the Textile Museum of Canada. It tells the story behind a collection of bold graphic textiles produced in Kinngait (formerly known as Cape Dorset), Nunavut, Canada, in the 1950s and 1960s—a period of social change that disrupted traditional Inuit culture.

These populations were feeling the negative effects of colonialism, having been moved into settled communities away from their nomadic, self-reliant lifestyle and made economically dependent on Western institutions.

As part of an effort to try to correct some of these injustices, the Canadian government backed a plan to spur the development of artistic enterprises in the community of Kinngait. Inuit hunters and seamstresses were introduced to printmaking in the hope that their work would appeal to a southern market and provide the community with some economic independence. A group of Inuit became skilled at creating and executing prints, while memorializing aspects of their culture.

This fascinating but ultimately short-lived printmaking initiative prospered over the following few years, as Inuit designers embraced new designs and techniques. The prints won a Canadian Enterprise Award in 1967, and some of the textiles were featured in . However, sales were not robust and getting supplies was difficult, resulting in the closing of the fabric printing enterprise.

Selected Works from the Exhibition:

The current exhibit, which runs in the Arctic museum’s main galleries until October 26, 2025, traces the evolution and impact of this textile enterprise on Inuit graphic art. It features works by the first generation of well-known Inuit artists such as Kenojuak Ashevak, Pitseolak Ashoona, Parr, and Pudlo Pudlat alongside interviews and oral histories from the Kinngait community and present-day Kinngait artists.

New works by three contemporary Inuit fashion designers, Martha Kyak of InukChic, Tarralik Duffy of Ugly Fish, and Nooks Lindell of Hinaani Designs, are featured as well. “I’m really happy to see that Inuit and First Nations design…is really starting to rise,” said Lindell. “There is this new wave of bringing it back, and bringing it back with such attitude, oftentimes almost aggressively, because it was almost taken away from us… It’s such a powerful thing.”

This project was made possible in part by the Government of Canada, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and Government of Ontario. The West Baffin Cooperative Arts Committee and Dr. Heather Igloliorte served as project advisors. The Schreibers, William R. and Shirley Beatty Charitable Foundation, and David Sharpe, Bridging Finance Inc., funded the project.

The installation of ᖃᓪᓗᓈᖅᑕᐃᑦ ᓯᑯᓯᓛᕐᒥᑦ Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios at the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum was supported by a generous grant from The Coby Foundation, Ltd. and by the Arctic museum’s Russell and Janet Doubleday Endowment.

Additional media coverage:
(by Kelli Park, Harpswell Anchor).