How Calgary Kablusiak Popped Inuit Art – Maclean's IG News

Artists from both sides run wild in Kablusiak's family. Their childhood homes in Yellowknife and later in Edmonton were filled with relatives' works, including a painting of wild geese – a wedding tribute to her parents by Kablusiak's brother, Bill Nasogoluak, a noted Inuvialuk artist. “I didn't realize it at the time,” says Kablusiak, who has small hands for crafting. “Now I know Inuit art collectors are foaming at the mouth.”

With genes like that, it was a foregone conclusion that Kablusiak, who joked that only the English name Jade would be used at Starbucks, would eventually move to Calgary to pursue her BA and BFA. But Kablusiak says he's the lead artist, and when I close on a page, he quickly starts to feel “sneezed on.” Thus, they pushed the boundaries – first in the field of new media, then in the forbidden areas. Kablusiak's breakthrough moment was an exhibit at Calgary's Sled Island Music and Arts Festival in 2017, with carved tampons, cigarettes and a Diva trophy thrown in for good measure.

By 2018, Kablusiak was represented at Calgary's Norberg Hall Gallery and in 2021 co-curated the inaugural collection at Qaumajuq at the Winnipeg Art Gallery's new Inuit Art Centre. They gained notoriety for their devastating juxtapositions of Inuit art history and Western pop culture, focusing on the transmutation of suffering, as they say, “from the north but existing in the south.”

There were smaller works, such as the spinning Ookpik, an owl sculpture first popularized by Inuit artist Jeannie Snowball in the 1960s. (Kabulusiak's Ookpiks were Garfields and Furbys.) They also branched out into larger, darker units. in 2021″Summer!” or “I can't help it/too bad!” A picture of Tuktoyaktuk Cemetery hangs on the wall, a background for visitors to take selfies. He pointed out what Kablusiak calls the “grim spectacle” of reporting unmarked graves being dug up. “If I dress these things up with humor, it's like taking a pill with honey,” they say. And the controversy that followed? “I agree to that.”

“TY Mr. Sobey,” one of Kablusiak's installations in the Sobey Art Award exhibition at the Art Gallery of Alberta. (Photo: Leroy Schultz)

Last November, just after his 30th birthday, Kablusiak won the prestigious Sobey Art Award – the first Inuvialuk artist. They plan to use the $100,000 prize for a home in northern Alberta with enough space for a studio. Anyone concerned about Kablusiak's sell-out should see “Again, Mr. Sobey,” a soapstone sculpture of a kneeling beggar surrounded by dollar signs, now on display at the National Gallery in Ottawa. This caused a huge reaction from the grocer's heir, Rob Sobey. “He was touched, but he also laughed,” Kablusiak says. “I wasn't expecting that.”

POP QUIZ

Secret Passion: Stickers. “I joined the Sandylion Sticker Club when I was 16. Now I keep a few sheets.”
Work: Covers for parkas made of canvas and cowhide
Wall Art: “I have framed works by Inuk artists like Darcy Bernhardt and Shuvinai Ashona – some donated, some bought.”
Winter activity: They mostly stay inside
McDonald's order: “Ever since I found out I'm gluten intolerant, I've been eating less of it, but there's no gluten in fries!”
Ink tank: Kablusiak tattoo a battaliontraditional Inuit face tattoos, as well as a few handmade creations