Akeeaktashuk

Akeeaktashuk

Akeeaktashuk, sea hunter, sculptor, storyteller (b at Hudson Bay, near Inukjuak River, Qué 1898; d at Craig Harbour, NWT 1954). Akeeaktashuk was a jolly, robust and outgoing man with an astonishing talent for observing and keenly portraying humans, animals and birds in stone and ivory. He often used these 2 natural materials in combination. In search of a more abundant hunting area, Akeeaktashuk journeyed north with his wife and children, and a number of other hunters and their families from Inukjuak accompanied them. They travelled north aboard the federal government icebreaker C.D. Howe, with their skin kayaks, sleds and dogs, and arrived at Craig Harbour on south Ellesmere Island in August 1951, later moving to Grise Fiord. Akeeaktashuk died out on the moving ice in search of walrus in 1954. Thus, Canada lost one of its most famous Inuit carvers, whose early work was the first to gain worldwide recognition in the postwar era of Inuit sculpture.

See also: Inuit Art.