Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain is pleased to present Contemporary Traditions from July 11 to August 29, 2009. This two-person show features new and recent drawings by renowned Cape Dorset artists Shuvinai Ashoona and Annie Pootoogook. In their respective works, Ashoona and Pootoogook raise issues of Inuit cultural difference and its representation through both contemporary and traditional forms.
Ashoona and Pootoogook are chroniclers of the everyday; although the subjects they depict and the themes they explore attest to the complexity of life in their Northern community. Landscapes rich in colour are juxtaposed with stark, unpopulated campsites seen from above. Images of lively social gatherings, including both family and friends, are contrasted to portraits of isolation and loss.
As contemporary artists, Ashoona and Pootoogook navigate within and outside of certain thematic territories associated with Inuit art. Their works are generally pictorial in nature, but firmly rooted in the narrative tradition. Allusions to the past are abundant in their renderings of the present; however, pop culture or “Southern” references such as televisions and airplanes are just as ubiquitous. The spiritual side of life is sometimes reflected in the worlds they create – drawing equally from Inuit or Christian sources.
Cultural and geographical dichotomies are continually being used to distinguish and define Inuit “ways of living” in relation to their non-Inuit counterparts to the South. Through their representational drawings of daily life, Ashoona and Pootoogook both confirm and challenge these longstanding perceptions. In doing so, they create a space for future dialogue. Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain would like to thank Feheley Fine Arts for its collaboration in presenting artworks by Ashoona and Pootoogook.
The gallery is also pleased to announce the screening of two films by Marcia Connolly in its video room for the duration of the exhibition: Ghost Noise: a short film with Shuvinai Ashoona and Annie Pootoogook.
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Shuvinai Ashoona (b. 1961, Cape Dorset, Nunavut) has been producing works on paper since 1995. This spring the Carleton University Art Galleryorganized a major solo exhibition of her work (curated by Sandra Dyck) featuring a number of drawings currently being exhibited at PFOAC. A catalogue will be published later this year. Her work is currently on view at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at Hart House in the exhibition Noise Ghost. A large-scale outdoor work produced in collaboration with John Noestheden was presented in Basel last summer and at Toronto's Nuit Blanche last fall. Her works can be found in several major collections including the National Gallery of Canada.
Annie Pootoogook (b. 1969, Cape Dorset, Nunavut) was the recipient of the Sobey Art Award in 2006. That year the Power Plant (Toronto) also presented her first solo institutional exhibition. In 2007, she participated in documenta 12 (Kassel) and the Montreal Biennial. This summer, her works are being featured in an exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian (New York). Museums have extensively collected her work, including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Marcia Connolly strives to produce emotive films that create a sense of intimacy between her documentary subjects and the audience. Connolly’s independent films and television pieces have been shown at the Galerie Nationale, du Jeu de Palme in Paris, at the Toronto International Film Festival, Artecinema in Naples, Italy and most recently at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. She has contributed over 50 pieces for programs at the CBC. These programs have received multiple Geminis, an International Emmy, and the Japan Prize.
