Annie Pillaktuaq is a painter and designer from Iqaluit, NU, whose practice incorporates acrylic paints, sealskin, putty and many other materials. Her practice takes stylistic cues from the Cubist art moment while also incorporating Inuit traditional stories.
Pillaktuaq began her artistic practice in 2018 when she moved to Ottawa, ON, and started taking classes at the Ottawa School of Art. While there she had the opportunity to experiment with a number of different mediums—including pencils, paint and crayons—but acrylic paints were what she connected to most, and they remain a mainstay of her practice today. “I just like the way they move,” she explains, adding that although acrylic is her favourite, “I love incorporating different materials—putty, glitter, all kinds of textures—to bring more depth to my work.” [1]
Looking back at the work she produced early in her practice, Pillaktuaq calls her early style “minimal,” but acknowledges a shift by 2025 to something much busier. “I like to use the entire canvas and I’m very generous with the paint,” she jokes. Her subject matter throughout has been shaped by her Inuit heritage and upbringing in Iqaluit, but when she began painting she couldn’t find many Inuit painters to look to for inspiration. Instead she researched other famous painters and painting styles, eventually falling in love with Picasso and others in the Cubist movement, as well as contemporary painters remixing Cubist tropes. The resulting work Pillaktuaq produces is full of bold colour, graphic lines and geometric shapes, with symbols keyed to Inuit culture. “I’ve taken Cubism and made it my own,” she says of the combination. Many works, such as Reclamation (2021) and Elements (2022) feature full and halved faces with linear marks that resemble tunniit in the Inuit tattoo tradition. Others, like Dancing Lights (2022), blend the strong geometric colour blocking with softer landscape elements rendered in swoops of undulating colour.
Beyond her painting practice, Pillaktuaq also makes mitts, earrings and other wearable items from sealskin, beads, fabric and fur. “I’d love to continue expanding my work in wearable art and explore more opportunities to showcase my sealskin pieces at major fashion and art events,” she says. Pillaktuaq’s wearables are featured as part of the 2025 Fashion Art Toronto retail space, and her painted work has been exhibited at Art Vancouver in 2024 and is included in the public collections at the Canada Council Art Bank in Ottawa and AOG Art Gallery in Frankville, ON. In 2023 she was a finalist for the Salt Spring National Art Prize. Moving forward, Pillaktuaq hopes to have her work included in more exhibitions, particularly ones that focus on Indigenous and contemporary Canadian art. “My goal is to keep evolving my work while ensuring that Inuit culture remains at the forefront of everything I do,” she says.