Kablusiak: Qiniqtuaq

Qiniqtuaq means searching or looking in the Sallimiutun dialect of Inuvialuktun. Viewable from the outside looking in, the exhibition Qiniqtuaq invites a curious and peeping gaze, inviting viewer participation in the ongoing histories of the who’s who of looking and being looked at. Kablusiak has often engaged the trope of the ghost as a device by which they wryly articulate a sense of their diasporic identity as an urban Inuk – the ghost asks for acknowledgement while controlling access to what is behind it. As we press our faces against the glass of the redacted gallery windows to peer through the caricature of ghostly eyeholes—some of which are cut high, too high for human eyes—we are implicated in acknowledging an Inuit presence behind the curtain; one that resists the notion of a culture frozen in time.

Qiniqtuaq pronunciation: KEEN-A-DO-WALK

REGISTER HERE

Curatorial Talk Wednesday, February 1 5:30 pm
Register via The Great Northern for Kablusiak's curatorial talk Atautchikun / wâhkôtawin on the threads that tie Inuit to Indigenous communities of the south. Capacity limited.  Hosted at All My Relations Arts

About Kablusiak

As a multidisciplinary Inuvialuk artist and curator, Kablusiak seeks to demystify Inuit art and create space for diverse Inuit-led representation. Their artistic practice uses humor and Inuk ingenuity to engage materials such as lingerie, Sharpies, bed sheets, felt, acrylic paint, and words to invite empathy and solidarity to explore diasporic cultural displacement, family and community ties, and impacts of colonization on Inuit gender and sexuality expressions, health and wellbeing, and the everyday. Kablusiak’s recent and upcoming exhibitions include Qiniqtuaq, Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis (2023), Up Front, Onsite Gallery, OCAD, Toronto (2022), After Care, Mitchell Gallery, Alberta University of the Arts, Edmonton (2022), and Ublaak tikiyuak, artspeak, Vancouver, BC (2020). Along with Atautchikun | wâhkôtamowin, Remai Modern, Saskatchewan (2021-22), their recent co-curatorial work includes INUA, the inaugural exhibition of 90 artists working across Inuit Nanangot and beyond at Qaumajuq, the Inuit art center, Winnepeg Art Gallery (2021). Kablusiak is based in Mohkinstsis.