Omalluq Oshutsiaq

Omalluq Oshutsiaq was raised in a family of artists. Her adoptive parents were Etidlooie Etidlooie (1911-1981) and Kingmeata Etidlooie (1915-1989). As a young child, Omallug spent five years in various Southern sanatoriums for tuberculosis treatment. Although she did some drawing, Omalluq’s passion was carving, usually mother and child groupings. In Women of the North, the 1992 exhibition catalogue, Omallugq stated, “I will carve as long as I can breathe....” Omallug served on the board of directors of the Inuit Art Foundation in Ottawa. She was also secretary of the incorporated Cape Dorset (now Kinngait) group of artists known as Iluayummiut. The group’s main objective was to raise funds for a building where artists from all disciplines can meet, talk and work.

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.