The Department of Canadian Heritage is contributing $464,000 to assist in a national tour of the Kenojuak Ashevak: Life and Legacy exhibition, it was announced Wednesday.
"As president of the Kinngait Arts Foundation and someone who knew Kenojuak very well, I am honoured to announce this important partnership with Canadian Heritage," says Jimmy Manning. "A prominent artist member of the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative and an ambassador for Cape Dorset's cultural community, this exhibition celebrates the life and legacy of one of Canada's most beloved national treasures."
Kenojuak, who hailed from Cape Dorset, became recognized as "one of Canada's preeminent artists and cultural icons" as her career spanned more than five decades, according to a Kinngait Arts Foundation news release.
Kenojuak Ashevak: Life and Legacy will visit six regional centres across Canada beginning in early 2020. This show includes 31 drawings – some never publicly displayed before – from the archives of the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative as well as three prints.
The Cape Dorset and Toronto-based not-for-profit Kinngait Arts Foundation was established in 2001 to promote Inuit art from Cape Dorset.