Tarralik Duffy (born in 1979) is an Inuk multimedia artist from Coral Harbour (Salliq), in Nunavut, Canada. [1] She currently resides primarily in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, as of 2021, but continues to split her time between Saskatoon and Coral Harbour. [2] She works with various mediums and techniques, including sculpture, drawing, photography, textiles, printmaking, digital mediums, writing, and music. [1] Her early life inspired elements of her artistic career, resulting in a variety of visual art pieces and publications that have also been recognized through exhibitions and awards.
Variations of Tarralik Duffy are the names Adina Applebum [3] and Adina Tarralik Duffy. [4]
Duffy was born in Coral Harbour, where she lived with her parents, Leonie and Ron Duffy. [5] Her parents have owned and operated a hotel called Leonie’s Place in Coral Harbour since the 1980s. [5]
She first began taking an interest in art by drawing with her older sister. However, she stated she has always wanted to be an artist. [2] At the beginning of her career, she found it challenging to commit due to personal reasons; however, she drew strength from the support of others and the encouragement to commit to her ideas fully. [2]
Tarralik is inspired by her family, specifically her sister, father, and grandmother. She states that her father taught her to play with language and not to take it too seriously, which has influenced many of her artworks to be a play on words. [6] Furthermore, she drew inspiration from her grandmother's cooking, clothing and the time they spent together. [7] She started a design company called Ugly Fish as an homage to her grandmother, whose Inuktitut nickname, Kanajuq, translates to "ugly fish." [1]
Duffy stated that much of her art helps her reconnect and strengthen her relationship with her culture, which she felt she had not truly appreciated when she was younger and was rejected for a time as she grew older. [8] Many of her pieces are inspired by the products she saw during her childhood, such as those in her home and the Quickstop (Northern Store) convenience stores in Nunavut. [9] Many of the products depicted in Duffy's art are not of Indigenous origin but are deeply rooted in the culture and daily lives of Inuit. [7] She also incorporates Inuktitut syllabics in her pieces to help preserve and commemorate the beauty of the language. [8]
Duffy has stated that much of her inspiration for her jewelry pieces comes from time spent on beaches, such as seeing the bones of belugas, for example, and finding them beautiful rather than disgusting. Furthermore, she states that she finds beauty in mundane things, such as pop cans, which feature in her art. [2]