Amy Prouty

Nanooq Inuit Art is pleased to introduce you to Amy Prouty.

Amy is finishing her MA in Art History at Carleton University with a thesis on contemporary drawings from Kinngait and their reception in southern art institutions. She has worked with the Inuit Knowledge Centre at Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and is currently curating an exhibition at the Carleton University Art Gallery. She is looking forward to beginning the PhD program in Art History at Concordia University, researching the practice of urban Inuit artists. Additional research interests include contemporary Inuit art, the intersection of traditional knowledge and art history, as well as the function of art as a form of resistance and a medium for cross-cultural communication.

Inuit art has often been described by critics as “memory art,” understood as having a seemingly apolitical focus on pre-contact life meant to appeal to the primitivist sensibilities of collectors in the South. Amy’s upcoming exhibition titled “Keeping Record: The Documentary Impulse of Inuit Art” recasts such analyses of the subjects addressed by Inuit artists by viewing their depictions of traditional practices as acts of cultural resilience, in which they record their knowledge during periods of seismic change. This documentary impulse is seen across all regions of Inuit Nunangat from the historical period to the present day. The artists in this exhibition create artworks that strengthen Inuit culture, communicate its unique values, and advocate for its importance to non-Inuit audiences.

“Keeping Record” features works from the the Carleton University Art Gallery’s (“CUAG”) Inuit collection as well as contemporary photography from local artist Barry Pottle. If you are in the Ottawa area this summer, we encourage you to visit CUAG and view the Amy’s exhibition from 2 May – 28 August 2016.