Historica Canada has launched a new Heritage Minute highlighting the groundbreaking career of the late Kinngait artist Kenojuak Ashevak today. The Heritage Minutes program relaunched in 2012 and is best known for its ubiquitous shorts from 1990s television that feature important Canadian cultural touchstones. The Kenojuak Minute was filmed on location outside of Kinngait last November and is the first to be produced entirely in Inuktitut as well as English and French.
Inuk actress Miali Buscemi plays a young Ashevak, while the artist’s sister, Koomatoo, plays her as an older woman. “I grew up always knowing who Kenojuak was,” says Buscemi. “Playing Kenojuak is an accomplishment and I felt honoured to play her—a strong, influential, Inuk woman.”
The Minute makes use of animated sequences, drawn from Ashevak’s iconic works, which are used to transform the landscape and showcase the inspiration she drew from her home.
Watch the Inuktitut version of the Minute below. You can also view the English and French versions.
The Winter 2014 issue of the Inuit Art Quarterly was dedicated to Kenojuak Ashevak.