Manasie Akpaliapik

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Manasie Akpaliapik
Born1955 (age 69–70)
NationalityCanadian Inuk
Known forSculpture (whalebone, ivory, stone)
Website manasie.com

Manasie Akpaliapik (born 1955) is a Canadian Inuk sculptor. [1] [2]

Contents

Akpaliapik was born in a hunting camp on Baffin Island, Nunavut, and moved with his family to Ikpiarjuk (Arctic Bay) in 1967. [2] Though his parents were sculptors, he learned to carve at age ten by observing his grandparents. [1]

At age 12 he was sent to residential school in Iqaluit where his language and culture were suppressed. [1] [3] Akpaliapik left residential school at 16 years old. [1] [3]

Akpaliapik married a woman named Noodloo and returned to Arctic Bay with his family. [1] [3] His wife and their two children were killed in a fire in 1980, after which Akpaliapik moved to Montreal and subsequently to Toronto. [1] [3]

Work

Akpaliapik sculpts with bone, ivory, and stone. [3] His sculptures typically have human or animal forms and are closely connected with traditional beliefs. [4] He began to carve professionally after 1980. [1]

On his work, he says:

Everything that I'm doing is trying to capture some of the culture, about my traditions, simple things like hunting, wearing traditional clothing, harpoons, using legends. I feel that the only way we can preserve the culture is if people can see it. [1]

In 1989, he received a Canada Council of the Arts grant to study certain aspects of Inuit culture, including drumming and kayak making, for his project North Baffin Island Legends. [1] [2] He also delivers workshops about Inuit art. [1]

Akpaliapik was long-listed for the Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award in 2023. [5]

Exhibitions and collections

Akpaliapik's works are in included in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, [1] Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec [6] and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. [7]

In 2017, the Art Gallery of Ontario held a solo exhibition of his work. [4]

In 2021 the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec held Manasie Akpaliapik Inuit Universe with works from the collection of Raymond Brousseau, the first time it devoted an exhibition to a single Inuk artist. [8]

In 2024 Montreal's McCord Stewart Museum reprised and expanded upon the 2021 exhibition, called Manasie Akpaliapik, Inuit Universe. [9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Manasie Akpaliapik". National Gallery of Canada. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "AKPALIAPIK, Manasie (1955)". Dictionnaire historique de la sculpture québécoise au XXe siècle. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Manasie Akpaliapik". Petroglyphs to Pixels. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
  4. 1 2 "Manasie Akpaliapik". Art Gallery of Ontario. Archived from the original on 20 February 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  5. ↑ IAQ. "10 Artists Longlisted for 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award". Inuit Art Foundation. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
  6. ↑ "Manasie Akpaliapik". www.collections.mnbaq.org. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  7. ↑ "Female Drum Dancer - Art Gallery of Ontario". Art Gallery of Ontario. Archived from the original on 2018-09-26. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  8. ↑ "Quebec City fine arts museum highlights work of Inuk sculptor in new exhibit". CBC . 2021-06-27. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
  9. ↑ Bérubé, Stéphanie (2024-10-07). "Manasie Akpaliapik. Univers inuit: Mille regards". La Presse (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2024-12-20.
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