Pitseolak Ashoona

Pitseolak was born on Nottingham Island in the Northwest Territories. She grew up with the traditional life of hunting, gathering and shamans. She was part of one of the last generations of Inuit who grew up with the traditional lifestyles enjoyed by the North American Inuit since before 1000 BC.

In the last two decades of her life, she assembled a collection of over 7000 images, 233 of which became prints in her Cape Dorset Collection. Illustrating life pre-contact, “the things we did long ago before there were many white men”(Inuit Art, Canadian Encyclopedia). Her artwork focuses on both daily life and legends

She was admired for the unpretentious authenticity in her works. On May 28, 1983, she passed away in Cape Dorset.