Akinasi Silaapik Partridge is a two-spirit Inuk-Mohawk artist from Montreal, QC, whose artistic practice primarily involves drawing and beading. She is inspired by artists like Annie Pootoogook and Ningiukulu Teevee. “I really relate to the kind of drawings they do, ranging from typical things like scenes of daily Inuit life, whether that's in the north or urban settings, or also mixing traditional Inuit mythology and folklore,” she says. [1]
Partridge began drawing from a young age, doodling in notebooks at school and making drawings for her friends. She uses coloured pencil and pen, sharing that she was initially inspired by Japanese anime and manga. “What I learned from trying to draw in that style is the kind of supplies they use… I like to use archival pigment fineliners, like Japanese-made pens. I use a type of marker called Copic markers that have a good opacity.” Partridge taught herself Mohawk-style beading (a subset of Haudenosaunee beading), which remains her primary beading method, but has recently begun learning how to do Inuit-style beadwork as well, specifically, the style learned from the Savirutiit, a traditional Inuit headband. She is learning with help from her twin brother Isaac and mother Taqralik Partridge, a well-known multidisciplinary artist in her own right.
Partridge’s work ranges in theme, from depicting moments from everyday life to depicting the land and nature. “I don't live in the Arctic, but when I do have a chance to go, even if it is not my own traditional territory, I find being on the land gives me a lot of inspiration,” she shares, having spent the majority of her time in the Arctic in her stepfather’s Sámi community of Kautokeino, Norway. Ideas of home and identity are also present in her work, specifically her two-spirit identity. A lot of Partridge’s drawings are self-portraits, often centred around her or her imagined self doing everyday activities or simply sitting.
In 2021 Partridge’s drawing Ken’niiohontésha (2021) was featured in Avataq Cultural Institute’s online exhibit, ᓴᓇᓐᖑᐊᓂᑎᒍᑦ ᒪᑭᑕᖃᑎᒌᓐᓂᖅ / Sanannguanitigut Makitaqatigiinniq / Standing Together Through Art / Debout ensemble à travers. Ken’niiohontésha is a self-portrait depicting herself beading in a Mohawk style. On either side of the drawing Partridge placed beaded strawberries, which are a significant motif in Mohawk culture. In 2022 she was a part of Avataq’s Our Land, Our Art / ᓄᓇᑦᑎᓂ ᑕᑯᒥᓇᕐᑐᖁᑎᕗᑦ exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, ON, creating an installation piece in collaboration with her mother and brother. The artwork depicts an Inuit woman’s amauti which Partridge calls “a more contemporary version,” due to the combination of beadwork from the three artists. Her work was also included in the Spring 2022 Showcase put on by Fruition, a queer, trans and 2-spirit BIPOC-focused artist collective in Montreal.
Partridge has various artistic endeavours planned for the future. She is part of a young Indigenous professional artist program with N’we Jinan that focuses on entrepreneurship skills and helps to provide opportunities that can build one’s artistic practice. Partridge plans on working towards her first solo exhibit with guidance from the program. In addition to beading and drawing, she would like to expand her practice to include writing and the Japanese printmaking style known as Ukiyo-e, a technique learned and used by the prolific Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak among other Kinngait artists. “In my work going forward, I would like to be more experimental and be more honest with my depictions of my everyday life,” the artist shares. “Whether it's me or me with my siblings and my queer chosen family and friends, I would like to be more open and show the world that there are queer Inuit, that we do exist, and that we don't have to please people's expectations of what art looks like.”