Friday, July 24, 2009

Take a look at this

Here at FMF, we appreciate art (especially those of us with very little artistic talent), and so in that spirit, I wanted to share an woman artist who I think is really interesting.

Before I get to that, I just wanted to share that before I went off to college I spend 6 weeks canoeing up in Nunavut, Canada and we ended our trip at an Inuit town called Baker Lake (which is pictured here).

Ever since that trip, I've been really interested in what has been going on with the Inuit, especially since the Arctic is undergoing some enormous changes due to climate change. Ok, that being said, the woman that I thought you all should hear about is Annie Pootoogook.

The New York Times has a review today of Ms. Pootoogook's work that I thought was really interesting. First off, she's from a family of women artists. Secondly, her work shows the ways that Inuit culture and lifestyle interacts and clashes with American and Canadian culture. The review says that her work is largely autobiographical, and portrays the social issues and problems facing Inuit people today. I mean, how much do you know about Nunavut or the Inuit?

I think it is incredibly important to have women artists who can express the issues and feelings women deal with every day. It is also incredibly important that there are artists who represent their culture and tell the stories of a group of people that not every one knows about.
Photo courtesy of Ellen Saliares

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