iima Arngaq is a graphic artist from Kangiqsujuaq, Nunavik, QC, who works with oil paint and a variety of drawing mediums to create imaginative characters that call to her own identity.
Arngaq began drawing at a young age and later taught herself to work with oil paint using instructional videos online. With the goal of learning more paint techniques, she enrolled in Dawson College’s Studio Arts program in Montreal, QC, in 2023, where she is studying painting as well as working with a variety of other mediums such as conte and markers, her new favourite drawing option. Arngaq is also beginning to incorporate non-traditional items like flowers into her work, and to mix mediums like oil with markers and other materials. “I’m just using anything really,” she says of her mixing approach. [1]
The images Arngaq creates often focus on faces, predominantly drawn from her own imagination. “I really love eyes,” she says, adding, “I don’t know why, but they’re so fun to draw.” Her work incorporates spiritual elements from Inuit lore and traditional tattoo motifs as a way to bring together the Jamaican and Inuk sides of her identity. “Because I am Afro-Indigenous and usually the characters I draw are black, it would be hard to discern whether they’re Indigenous if I didn’t incorporate Indigenous elements in other ways,” she says. This practice is inspired in part by Dayle Kubluitok, who uses similar Inuit identity markers in their character designs. Beyond faces, Arngaq is also drawn to the gory, creepy and unusual, and tries to infuse a feeling of discomfort—either of fright or social awkwardness—into her work. “When you look at [my work], you feel that there is something about it that’s mysterious, but it makes you uncomfortable,” she says. “I like to show Black struggles.”
In 2021 Arngaq was commissioned by non-profit La Boîte Rouge VIF to create a mural on board for their Territoire de rencontres camp. The resulting work, Iila and the Desires, is about a shaman girl who contacts the spirit of her friend’s grandmother. It will be displayed in the Kangiqsujuaq Parc des Pingualuit Visitor and Interpretation Centre in 2023. After completing her degree at Dawson College, Arngaq plans to study at the university level, with the ultimate goal of creating art full-time. Among the projects she would love to work on someday is a comic strip, as well as a line of screenprinted tshirts.
This Profile was made possible through support from RBC Emerging Artists.