About the IAQ Profiles

An Innovative Platform

A key goal of the IAQ Profiles is to broaden public awareness of the history of Inuit art and to connect interested researchers with artists and artworks while providing artists a supportive platform through which to showcase their CVs. This includes artwork, artist statements, past and upcoming exhibitions, resources for further research and more. All public contributions to profiles are credited to keep a record of information, and provide possible options for further research.

The IAQ Profiles departs significantly from previous attempts to provide biographies for Inuit artists, since it was designed for artists first. The platform showcases artists’ profiles, exhibition and publication histories and images of artwork. Unlike any other attempted platforms, artists control their profiles and explicit written permission is required from artists before publication.

Broadening Access

The IAQ Profiles was designed to bridge the gap between Inuit artists and their audiences by addressing barriers such as geographic distance and reduced internet access. When accessing artist profiles, we have created both a low-bandwidth and high-bandwidth site. Depending on your location, you will be directed to the bandwidth version that meets your connection speed. If you are shifted to the low-bandwidth site, you may click to change to the high-bandwidth version at any time. Both versions offer the same written content, but the low bandwidth version provides the option of loading each component of the biography separately.

Become a Contributor

Help us make this resource as comprehensive as possible by registering for an account today. You can add information or suggest changes to any profile by submitting comments through the Suggest An Edit box found on every artist profile. If you are an artist or artist's representative you can create a profile or claim your existing profile by contacting us at [email protected].

Get Started

Register for an Account
To contribute to the IAQ Profiles, you first need to create an account. After confirming your registration, your account will be verified by the Inuit Art Foundation team.

Search by Artists, Media or Community
Discover the broad range of Inuit artists published on the IAQ Profiles by using the search function. You can search for a specific artist by name by clicking on the magnifying glass on the top right side of the page. You can also search by community, media, region or more by selecting the desired criteria from the drop-down list. You can also set multiple search criteria for more directed results.

Explore Featured Artists
Not sure where you want to start? Browse our featured categories, by visiting our Explore page!

Edit an Artist Profile
Once your account has been verified, you will be able to Suggest An Edits on an artist profile. When creating or suggesting edits to a profile, you can save suggestions to submit later and exit at anytime.

Only one user at a time can edit a profile so if you are unable to finish edits to a page in one sitting, please save and exit so other users may also contribute edits. Once you have completed the suggested changes, you can submit them to the Inuit Art Foundation for review.

Creating a Profile
The IAQ Profiles provides artists with the option of creating and updating their own public profile, or for members of the public to create or add to profiles. Each entry provides space for relevant biographical information, an artist statement, exhibition and publication history, public collection information and major achievements. As an online resource the IAQ Profiles are open to all public contributions, however public entries are fact checked by the Inuit Art Foundation team to ensure they are as comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date as possible before being published.

Only artist profiles for which express written consent has been obtained will be published and publicly accessible.

• Designation - Appointment by an official organization, such as the Order of Canada, that recognizes an individual’s contributions to their field, such as being appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada. These honours are normally noted by including the initials of the award after the artist’s name, such as Uriash Puqiqnak, OC. If an individual holds multiple designations they are listed first by national, provincial and then community organizations, such as Kenojuak Ashevak, CC, RCA.
• Alternate Names - For artists whose names have multiple variations in spelling. All the names may be listed and the name the artist identifies with can be selected as the primary spelling. 
• Date of Birth - Artists may have multiple birth years listed as a result of when and where they were born. For example, an artist born in the early twentieth century in a camp outside of a community centre may not know/have known their exact date of birth and identified different years.
• Place of Birth - The community or region where an artist was born. Where possible, the place is first referred to by its Inuktut name with the English name put in brackets after. For example, Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake), Nunavut.
• Death Date - Artists may have multiple dates of death listed as a result of when and where they passed away. Similar to date of birth, an artist may have passed away outside of a community centre or in another community resulting in different dates being recorded.
• Artistic Community - An artist’s practice may have developed in a community that they were not born in and/or that they do not currently reside in. This category allows an individual to select the community they identify with as an artist.
• Gender (Self-Identify) - Gender identity is a personal experience of one's own gender, which may or may not correspond with their birth sex and the biological terms male and female.
• Social Media - Social media accounts hosted on the IAQ Profiles are intended to showcase an artist’s professional page. Include only links to professional pages not personal profiles, unless using a social media account such as Facebook, as your primary method of contact.
• Artistic Community - Refers to the community an artist is identified or self-identifies as being associated with and may not refer to the community an artist lives in/lived in.
• Image Title - The title of the artwork or a descriptive title for the image, including photo credit and copyright information where necessary. For example, Peter Pitseolak ARCTIC EMBLEMS Copyright Office of Public Guardians and Trustees Nunavut.jpg
• Biography - An account of a person’s history as it relates to their art practice, with a focus on artistic training (workshops, apprenticeships, diplomas, degrees), important artworks and themes, and participation in major solo or group exhibitions (max word count: 800).
• Exhibition History - This section aims to record all the solo and group exhibitions an artist’s work was included in. If an artist was/is also a curator, the exhibitions that they curated can be included in this section and the ‘curatorial credit’ can be assigned to the artist.
• Public Collection - Included in this section are the names of major institutions, public galleries and other publicly available collections.
• Discography - Included in this section are any records that a musician has released or contributed to.
• Publication History - This sections is to record any articles, catalogues or journals that include an artist and/or images of their artwork.
• Performance - This section can include both live theatrical performances as well as musical performances.
• Filmography - Both acting and production (Director, producer, cinematographer) credits can be included.