Collection of artist’s simple images reflects purity of Inuit culture
By Jessica Warren
Feb. 11, 2004 9:00 p.m.
Currently on exhibit in UCLA’s Fowler Museum through May
30 is “Power of Thought,” an art collection of drawings
and works on cloth by the late Jessie Oonark, whose vivid
depictions of Arctic inhabitants and animals drew their inspiration
from the Inuit culture in northern Canada.
Oonark, who died in 1985, created images with bright colors
combined with various shapes and lines all coming together to
explore and celebrate the identity and culture of Inuit people.
The simplicity of her drawings, however, requires some knowledge
of the Inuit culture for full understanding. Otherwise, the works
might look like a third-grader’s rendition of a whale eating
some fish. Their uncanny resemblance to the type of two-dimensional
artwork elementary school children bring home to their parents,
ironically enough, jump-started her interest in art.
“A school teacher once said that Oonark, upon visiting a
school, told her that she could make much better drawings than the
ones children at the school were making,” said curator Marie
Bouchard in her lecture following the viewing of the exhibit.
“(Oonark) was then given a bunch of paper and used every
scrap of paper given to her, actually drawing on both sides of the
sheet.”
The juvenile simplicity of the drawings aptly represents the
purity and innocence of the Inuit culture, which has remained
relatively unaltered and unadulterated for thousands of years.
Confined to Canada’s Northwest Territories where she lived
in modest poverty, Oonark did not grow up as the typical art
enthusiast. At 52, most people are thinking about retirement, but
Oonark was just beginning her career as an artist ““ going
from a financially dependent mother and widow to one of the most
prolific Canadian artists of the day. Oonark’s drawings began
to earn acclaim and she became the primary breadwinner for her
extended family. She was later elected to the Royal Canadian
Academy of the Arts and named Champion to the Order of Canada, one
of the highest orders receivable.
“Through her imagery, Oonark is able to give visual
expression to the social and cultural upheaval of a society
ravished by famine and the complex, cross-cultural issues which
arose within it,” said Bouchard.
