This exhibition will celebrate Pudlo Pudlat’s remarkable contribution to the early development of Inuit art, which continues to ensure that this unique creative expression is firmly situated in the broader Canadian art historical discourse.

Celebrated Inuit artist Pudlo Pudlat began his artistic career when he moved to Kiaktuuq in the 1950s. There he met James Houston, who taught community members printmaking. In 1960, Pudlat shifted from carving to drawing, printmaking, and painting due to an injury. His works in the touring exhibition Pudlo Pudlat: Art Is Life are a skillful example of the art of illustrative storytelling.

The magic of Pudlat’s drawings is in how a single illustration embodies a strong narrative. Comparable to twenty-first-century illustrations, each drawing contains a layered story, with intentional liberations from traditional approaches. His drawings blend reality and surrealism, incorporating aspects such as warped horizons and the absence of depth perception. Planes, birds, and boats are reoccurring symbols. With imagery celebrating spring and summer, fishing, and hunting, his bright palette is harmonized with soft yellow and pink skies, visually articulating the “Land of the Midnight Sun.”

Pudlat’s drawings personify the spirit of the North. They cleverly balance the minimalistic and the literal, leaving space to evoke the viewer’s imagination. The style of his drawings is personal, unique but part of an aesthetic that has been evolving for a century within the Inuit artistic community.

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