Ningeeuga Oshuitoq

Ningeeuga Oshuitoq was born at Amadjuak camp to Adla and Anernik. Anernik (1902-1983) had numerous prints in the early Cape Dorset annual collections. In 1934, her family moved closer to Cape Dorset (now Kinngait) where there was a Hudson's Bay post. She settled at Shukbuk camp with her husband, Peesee Oshuitog (1913-1979), after their marriage in 1939. Around 1960 the family was forced by illness to move even closer to Cape Dorset. Ningeeuga spent the years from 1961 to 1964 in Hamilton for tuberculosis treatment. Some time after her return from the South, probably about 1965, Ningeeuga began to draw. Although she has her own distinctive style, Ningeeuga's use of simple profile forms is similar to that of her mother who had been drawing for about five years longer. Ningeeuga often drew creatures from the spirit world. Between 1966 and 1972, she had nearly thirty prints in the annual Cape Dorset collections.

Excerpted, with light edits, from Strange Scenes: Early Cape Dorset Drawings by Jean Blodgett and Susan Gustavison, published by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, January 1993.