Published on September 27, 2016
Death of the artist Annie Pootoogook
It is with sadness that the Museum learned the death of the artist Annie Pootoogook last week.
Annie Pootoogook comes from an artistically inclined family that includes her mother, Napachie, her father, Eegyvudluk, and her uncle, Kananginak Pootoogook. Pootoogook often watched her famous grandmother, artist Pitseolak Ashoona, at work. Like her grandmother, Pootoogook is a chronicler of her times. Her drawings oblige us to contemplate the changing world of the Inuit as she portrays it. Shying away from traditional Arctic hunting or fishing scenes, she presents, in great detail, the poignant themes of daily life in her community: alcoholism, drug addiction, violence, depression and sexual abuse. Seemingly anecdotal, these works depict the reality of social, economic and geographic disparities in Canada. She draws simply, without commentary, without judgment, exactly what she sees in the Far North.
Annie Pootoogook, _Composition (Family Eating Lunch)_, 2005-2006, felt pen, wax crayon, graphite. MMFA, purchase, Louise Lalonde-Lamarre Memorial Fund.
