Ballroom culture has originated much of the playful and evocative language used in queer spaces and beyond, permeating the modern 2SLGBTQQIA+ community through fashion, language, drag and dance. Queer culture has also always looked to strong women for inspiration. Divas like Judy Garland, Dolly Parton and even Kenojuak Ashevak, CC, ONu, RCA (1927–2013), have taught us to push through the darkness to show the world our true colours. YASSS QUEEN!!
Kenojuak Ashevak Owl’s Bouquet (2007) Printmaker Qavavau Manumie Stonecut and stencil 62.2 × 77 cmCOURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS
Owl’s Bouquet (2007)
Category is: Best Dressed. As though standing at the end of a glamorous runway, Ashevak’s Owl’s Bouquet strikes a pose and models Ashevak’s eye for colour and design. The owl’s gaze and posture exude poise and confidence, softened by a headpiece of glorious flowers that balances effortlessly, cascading behind them like colourful flowing hair. The roughly textured browns and greys of the owl’s plumage contrast with the smooth shifting colours of the extravagant flowers. This luxurious headpiece would fit in at any Pride celebration, drag performance or fashion runway!
Kenojuak Ashevak Gulls and Ravens (2001) Printmaker Pitseolak Niviaqsi Lithograph 57 × 76.6 cmCOURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS
Gulls and Ravens (2001)
Kenojuak Ashevak is MOTHER. Here in Gulls and Ravens, she takes two of the most monochromatic of birds, whose plumage usually appears in a greyscale, and serves instead a kaleidoscopic rainbow cacophony of corvid chaos—you can almost hear the squawking and cawing. The fluid shapes and swirling colours evoke the movement of squabbling birds, while at the same time the birds look like piles of plucked feathers dancing on the wind. The inverted colours of the ravens and gulls, coupled with the rainbow hues, allow printmaker Pitseolak Niviaqsi’s, RCA (1947–2015), lithography to shine through.
Kenojuak Ashevak Courting Loon (2008) Printmaker Pitseolak Niviaqsi Lithograph 56 × 76.5 cmCOURTESY FIRST ARTS
Courting Loon (2008)
She’s giving floral. She’s giving feathers. She’s giving Courting Loon realness. Once again Ashevak finds new and interesting ways to bring colour to her black-and-white arctic birds. This time a black-and-white loon carries in its beak a bouquet of red and pink flowers—soft pink, blue and green hues that resemble the colours of the polysexual Pride flag. The way the flowers stream behind the loon as they swim along the water’s surface suggests movement, like this loon is in a hurry to go court their potential mate. Love is love, whether it is of the human or feathered kind.
Kenojuak Ashevak Feathered Rainbow (2002) Printmaker Pitseolak Niviaqsi Lithograph 57.4 × 76.3 cmCOURTESY FEHELEY FINE ARTS
Feathered Rainbow (2002)
Bringing us rainbow-feathered fantasy extravaganza! When there are no rainbows in the sky, we make our own. Ashevak is not afraid to ruffle a few feathers in Feathered Rainbow, choosing bright and vibrant colours to depict her iconic birds. Gradients of blue, purple and gold reveal the iridescent rainbow hidden within the feathers of the tulugâluit’s wings. Ashevak shows her mastery of symmetry and balance here, using the birds to almost form a colourful smiling face that would make any drag artist proud. Beat for the gods!
Kenojuak Ashevak Primal Exchange (2001) Printmaker Pitseolak Niviaqsi Lithograph 55.3 × 70 cmCOURTESY FIRST ARTS
Primal Exchange (2001)
Serving Corvid Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent. The two birds, similar yet different, top and bottom, are embraced in an endless circle of lovemaking, lying upon a rainbow blanket strewn with their black-and-white feathers. Viewing Primal Exchange through a queer lens, it is sexual in nature, but nothing about the birds indicates gender. Instead they hold space for the viewer to understand the image through their own perception and experiences. The composition suggests a duality and unity all at once, a black-and-white binary set atop a colourful gradient of possibilities.
Ossie Michelin is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker and storyteller from North West River, Labrador, currently living in Montreal, QC. A former video journalist with APTN, his work focuses on the environment, Indigenous issues and the North. His writing and photography have appeared in the Inuit Art Quarterly, Ricochet, Newfoundland Quarterly, Atlantic Business Magazine and Labrador Life Magazine.
This piece originally appeared in the June 2025 issue of the Inuit Art Quarterly.