Debbie Siakuluk is an artist born in Sanirajak, NU, who now lives in Yellowknife, NT. She works primarily with jewellery, creating pieces with beads, steatite and sealskin that reflect her Inuit heritage.
Siakuluk learned how to cut sealskin, make patterns, and sew as a teenager thanks to her mother, Annie Siakuluk. She began making jewellery in 2020 with some guidance from online videos. “Beading and sewing is like my reconnection, it brings that piece of me that I feel was lost throughout the years of my adolescence and early adulthood,” she says. [1] Her great-great-grandmother has been a major source of inspiration, especially for the artist’s beaded work. “Even though I didn’t grow up with her, I always looked up to her,” Siakuluk says. Artists Derrald Taylor and Shirley Hootch helped Siakuluk become more familiar with stone carving practices; she later found out that her grandfather, David Kanatsiak, was also a carver.
“Each piece is part of my healing process, helping me to engage in cultural practices,” Siakuluk says about the work she creates, a blend of steatite, sealskin and beads. She uses a variety of colours, often working with black, pink, or green stone. Preparing the soapstone can be a difficult and time-consuming process. “I cut everything by hand, I shave everything by hand, I don't use any mechanical tools,” the artist explains. Once cut, many of these stone shapes are then bordered with intricate beading.
Some of Siakuluk’s work is also based on her great-great-grandmother’s beaded jewelry. “I'm starting to reconnect with some family back home so that resurgence of getting to know who my family is… it's really important.” Maintaining this connection to Inuit culture is an important aspect of practice which manifests beyond the art she produces, flowing into the way Siakuluk teaches her children. “I can pass my knowledge on to my kids if they are willing and interested,” she says. Siakuluk promotes Inuit values and connections with them by practicing Inuit crafts and sewing together. When her daughters are older, she would like to teach them how to produce their own garments.
In 2021 Siakuluk began attending virtual sessions with the Native Women’s Association of Canada, where she learned about starting a business. She expanded her marketing knowledge and launched her Instagram page, @debbs867, where she showcases and sells her creations. The artist is currently working on a steatite raven, her largest sculpture to date, which will honour her son and his great-great-grandfather, who is his namesake. She also hopes to launch a website in future to help her work reach a broader audience.