Igah Hainnu’s Mosquito has always rocked my world. This piece is made from seal whiskers, claws and muskox horn, elements of our country food that we are unable to eat or use as clothing, so I love that she is able to utilize these parts of the animals and honour them so beautifully.
What inspires me most in my creative work is the sharing of skills and the idea of possibilities along with creating out-of-the-ordinary art while using as many parts of our Inuksiutit as possible! Igah’s Mosquito is also particularly fun because of the innate and hilarious fear we Inuit have of insects. Artists inherently want to evoke an emotional response with their work, and here Igah guarantees a strong reaction, at least from an Inuit audience.
I worked with Igah at the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association, where her skills with skins blew me away. On one particularly rainy day when we couldn’t work outside, on a whim she skinned a fish and wrapped it whole over a water bottle. I was amazed, and that has stuck with me recently as I’ve been experimenting with fish skin in my art.