Work of Inuk photography award winner on display at National Gallery

The 2024 New Generation Photography Award winners, Mallory Lowe Mpoka and asinnajaq, have their work displayed at the National Gallery of Canada until June 1.

Founded in 1880, the gallery, located in Ottawa, is home to more than 90,000 works including one of the “finest collections of Indigenous and Canadian art from the 14th to 21st century.”

Inuk artist, asinnajaq, from Inukjuak, Nunavik, incorporates Inuit culture and values into her work by weaving themes and beliefs of her people into her photos. The items she chose to display at the gallery showcases her innate ability to achieve this.

“I tried to contribute artworks that give a good feeling of my kind of way of working,” she told Windspeaker.com.

asinnajaq works in many different forms, including film, photography, writing and live performance.

In 2017 she wrote and directed Three Thousand, a short sci-fi documentary that was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award.

Included in the exhibit at the gallery is a portion dedicated to her video in addition to her photography. The photography competition was focused on themes that address the ambiguity of images in post-colonial cultures, and redress the loss and destruction from that time.

asinnajaq has been taking photos for the past 20 years and said she can see a progression in her work though the elements or subjects haven’t changed.

“What I try to do with my art practice is gently let you know ideas, so I always have a solid foundation and then like I can try things and slowly build on it,” she said, adding people aren’t usually subjects in her artistic photography.

“My dad also loves photography too so he and I, one of our favorite activities to do together when I was a teenager, was going out and taking pictures and that kind of habit really has stuck with me,” asinnajaq said.

“A lot of my practice is creating my own personal library or archive of photos. Whenever I go on an adventure with my family, if we go for a picnic, or seal hunting, or anything camping.”

Her subjects are usually of nature using a close-up perspective, however, she said she has began to venture into additional subjects, including herself.

She explained how she captures a balance, a texture, or a movement with the many things that are in front of her.

“I really love looking that way because the frame is such a powerful tool,” she said. “The photos look different depending on what’s in front of me. (The images are) less about landscape in the first way that we would picture it and more on details and textures.”

In her first studio photo of herself she is wearing an image she captured which features a textile element. The photo has areas with plants, rocks and lichen arranged in a pattern that replicates a small mountain range.

“There’s a textile photo which isn’t a medium that I’ve been working with but I kind of made my first photo in a studio setting and that was interesting… (it) is kind of shown in a more sculptural way,” she said.

The image within the image “are kind of one work,” she said. “You can’t really see me… so it’s like gently expanding and finding new ways.”

For the past several months, asinnajaq has been working with the National Gallery of Canada’s curators to choose the images and work she would display for the exhibit.

“Some of her best work she wanted to present, and even some of her newer work as well,” explained exhibit co-curator Jocelyn Piirainen. “This exhibition includes her more recent photographs and also her video work.”

Both artists were chosen through a jury of peers who looked at their original work, their history and their merit as lens-based artists.

“Her connection to her homeland is really quite strong in her work and it’s an important part to her photographs,” said Piirainen.

Mpoka’s work is inspired by stories and experiences from her own Cameroonian-Belgian origins.

Each artist received a $10,000 prize in addition to the opportunity to showcase their work at the National Gallery of Canada for this exhibit.

For more information or to book a ticket for the New Generation Photography Award Exhibit visit New Generation Photography Award | National Gallery of Canada.

Local Journalism Initiative Reporters are supported by a financial contribution made by the Government of Canada.