Papiara Tukiki: Cape Dorset
Papiara Tukiki (b: December 25, 1942) is an Inuk artist who lives in Cape Dorset with her husband, Qopie Tukiki.
Papiara was born at an outpost camp on Foxe Peninsula on the south-western tip of Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. She first started contributing to the Cape Dorset Print Collection back in 2004, and has become a staple artist of Kinngait Studios ever since. As an experienced elder, Papiara educates and works alongside the younger Inuit artists in the Co-op. Her artwork has a simple and light-hearted sensibility. She prefers to avoid realistic depictions of wildlife, opting for a more ethereal style that evokes a nostalgia for her nomadic childhood.
"Traditional life is shown, often with the juxtaposition of different seasons and times. The repeating images of rabbits, lemmings and caribou that chase one another across the page, some skirting around skeletons after the snow has melted or weaving between the rocks of the tundra, remind us of the multitude of animal life that was once the lifeblood for the Inuit." - Nancy Campbell
