TORONTO, January 31, 2002 -- Leading Inuit and First Nations artists, critics, teachers and curators will be featured in a public lecture series starting February 6 and running through April in the Visual Arts Department at York University.
Inuit and First Nations Cultures: Contemporary Perspectives will include talks by filmmakers Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn of Igloolik Isuma Productions; independent curator Peggy Gale; artist Jane Ash Poitras; artist and educator Jolene Rickard; curator, author and painter Tom Hill: and artist and curator Gerald McMaster.
In their professional work, these speakers encompass local, national and international perspectives on Inuit and First Nations cultures, from historical to contemporary issues and ideas, and an eclectic range of contemporary art practices, media and techniques. Reflecting this broad spectrum, their presentations will address issues of repatriation, post-colonialism, political and social concerns, as well as representation in ethnographic museums and fine art galleries.
The lecture series opens with a three-part program spotlighting videos by Zacharias Kunuk, co-founder of Igloolik Isuma Productions, Canada's first Inuit independent production company.
Feb. 6, 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Screenings of the episodes "Qimuksik" (Dog Team) and "Avaja" from Kunuk’s award-winning series Nunavut (Our Land)
Feb. 7, 2:30 - 5:30 p.m.
"At the Floe/Flow Edge"- Curator Peggy Gale presents an overview of Isuma video work since 1989, including "Tugaliaq" (Ice Block) from the series Nunavut (Our Land) and excerpts from Kunuk’s videos "Qaggiq" (Gathering Place), "Nunaqpa" (Going Inland) and "Qarmaq" (Stone House).
Feb 8, 1:30 - 4:30 p.m.
"Igloolik Video by Artists" – A talk by artist-producers Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn on the work of Igloolik Isuma Productions and making media art from an Inuit point of view. Features clips from Kunuk’s ground-breaking historical thriller Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner), the first aboriginal-language Canadian feature film, winner of the Camera d'Or, Cannes, 2001 and Genie nominee 2002.
Biographical notes on Zacharias Kunuk and Peggy Gale are attached.
All presentations in the series Inuit and First Nations Cultures:Contemporary Perspectives take place in Room 312, Joan & Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts at York University, 4700 Keele Street. Admission is free. For more information, please call 416-736-5187.
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For further information, please contact:
| Prof. Yvonne Singer | Nathalie-Roze Fischer | Brigitte Kleer |
| Department of Visual Arts | Communications | Manager, Public Relations |
| York University | Faculty of Fine Arts | Faculty of Fine Arts |
| 416-736-2100, ext. 77426 | York University | York University |
| ysinger@yorku.ca | 416-736-2100, ext. 20421 | 416-736-2100, ext. 77143 |
| nfischer@yorku.ca | bkleer@yorku.ca |
ZACHARIAS KUNUK is a self-taught filmmaker who made headlines in 2001 with his critically-acclaimed feature film Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner). Spoken in Inuktitut, Atanarjuat is the first Canadian aboriginal-language film and first feature-length fiction film written, produced, directed and acted by Inuit. It won the Camera d'Or at Cannes, the Grand Prix at the Flanders International Film Festival and an Aboriginal Achievement Award, and was recognized as Best Canadian Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival. It is nominated in multiple categories for the 2002 Genie Awards.
Born in Kapuivik, Zachrias Kunuk lives in Igloolik, Baffin Island. In 1990 he co-founded Igloolik Isuma Productions, the first Inuit independent film production company in Canada. He produces two television series, Nunavut and Ammiturmit, which has won the Best Series award from the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation for four years running.
PEGGY GALE is an independent curator and critic specializing in film, video, performance and installation works. Widely published in Canadian and international museum publications and journals since the mid-1970s, her most recent publication was Tout le temps/Every Time, an illustrated catalogue for La Biennale de Montreal 2000, which she also curated. Gale’s other essays include "Real Fictions: Four Canadian Artists" for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney (1996) and an essay on Robert Houle for his retrospective exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (1999). She has been awarded grants by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, and was the recipient of the Visual Arts Award presented by Arts Toronto in 2000.
Peggy Gale studied art history at the University of Toronto and the Universita degli Studi in Florence, Italy. She is currently the director of A Space, a multi-disciplinary artist-run centre in Toronto.
