Janet Kigusiuq

Janet Kigusiuq (b. 1926 Putuqsuqniq camp, near Garry Lake, Nunavut; d. 2005 Baker Lake, Nunavut) was an Inuit artist. Kigusiuq's drawings focused on camp life, hunting and fishing. The source of these motifs are principally drawn from childhood experiences at the family camp, Kitikat in the Back River region. She adopted printmaking following the family's move to Baker Lake and between 1970 and 1988 she contributed to the Baker Lake print collections. Her mature work saw the development of pencil crayon colour fields and collage techniques, the latter prompted by the onset of arthritis. Kigusiuq came from a large family of artists: she was the eldest daughter of Jessie Oonark, her siblings included artists Victoria Mamnguqsualuk, Nancy Pukingrnak, Peggy Qablunaaq Aittauq, Mary Yuusipik Singaqti, Josiah Nuilaalik, Miriam Marealik Qiyuk and William Noah, and she was married to Mark Uqayuittuq, son of Luke Anguhadluq, themselves both artists.

Her work can be found the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, the Museum of Inuit Art, Toronto, and the Macdonald Steward Art Centre, Guelph. A retrospective exhibition, titled The Urge to Abstraction: The Graphic Art of Janet Kigusiuq and curated by Cynthia Waye, was mounted at the Museum of Inuit Art in 2008.