Kavavaow Mannomee: Cape Dorset

Kavavaow Mannomee: Cape Dorset

Kavavaow Mannomee (now Qavavau Manumie) (male; b:1958); Inuit artist, Cape Dorset, Nunavut, Canada.

Mannomee (Manumie) was born in Brandon, Manitoba in 1958 where his mother, Paunichea, was hospitalized for treatment of tuberculosis. He returned to Cape Dorset as a very young child and has lived there since.

Mannomee (Manumie) has demonstrated a range of stylistic abilities over the years – from the very literal to the more expressive. His thematic concerns include depictions of Inuit legends and mythology, Arctic wildlife and contemporary aspects of Inuit life. He has a penchant for placing his human characters in unusual situations, well illustrated in this year's Stiletto (2010-11). In this humourous small lithograph, one of the legendary “Little People” has stumbled across the perfect shaft for his harpoon – the heel of a brand new shoe.

Mannomee (Manumie) is the latest among the second generation to attract critical acclaim from the contemporary arts audience in the south. He and Shuvinai Ashoona have been profiled, along with Nick Sikkuark of Gjoa Haven, in the Winnipeg-based arts magazine, Border Crossings. He traveled to Toronto in June of 2008 for his first solo exhibition of original drawings, and last year to Vancouver for another exhibition featuring his contemporary work.

For several years Mannomee (Manumie) has worked for the Kinngait Studios as a printmaker – first in the lithography studio and more recently in the stonecut studio. He is an accomplished and precise printmaker who enjoys the opportunity to demonstrate printmaking techniques to young artists and visitors to the studio.

Mannomee (Manumie) lives with his wife and son Peter in Cape Dorset.

— Dorset Fine Arts (reproduced with permission)