The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa has opened 'Qillaniq,' the largest circumpolar Indigenous art exhibition ever staged, featuring over 80 works by nearly 70 artists from Alaska, Inuit Nunangat, Greenland, and Sápmi. Curated entirely by an Indigenous team from the North, the show includes a woven grass basket qaggiq (igloo) by Inuk artist asinnajaq and Métis architect Tiffany Shaw, contemporary jewellery, a recreation of a 19th-century amauti, and a papier-mâché sculpture. Planning began in 2024 with a weeklong brainstorming session in Iqaluit.
The exhibition matters because it represents a concerted effort to connect Arctic Indigenous communities and bring their art to a national stage, challenging colonial institutions while fostering inclusive, safe spaces. It also makes a political statement: one work by Kinngait artist Ningiukulu Teevee depicts a polar bear embracing a Greenlandic woman, a direct response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland, underscoring Inuit solidarity and cultural sovereignty.