Manasie Akpaliapik

{{Short description|Canadian Inuk sculptor (born 1955)|bot=PearBOT 5}}{{Infobox artist

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1955}}

| nationality = Canadian Inuk

| known_for = Scultpure (whalebone, ivory, stone)

| website = {{URL|manasie.com|manasie.com}}

}}

Manasie Akpaliapik (born 1955) is a Canadian Inuk sculptor.{{cite web|url=https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/manasie-akpaliapik|title=Manasie Akpaliapik|publisher=National Gallery of Canada|accessdate=20 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116211115/https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/manasie-akpaliapik|archive-date=16 January 2018|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=AKPALIAPIK, Manasie (1955) |url=https://dictionnaire.espaceartactuel.com/artistes/akpaliapik-manasie-1955/ |access-date=2023-10-08 |website=Dictionnaire historique de la sculpture québécoise au XXe siècle |language=en-US}}

Akpaliapik was born in a hunting camp on Baffin Island, Nunavut and moved with his family to Ikpiarjuk (Arctic Bay) in 1967. Though his parents were sculptors, he learned to carve at age ten by observing his grandparents.

At age 12 he was sent to residential school in Iqaluit where his language and culture were suppressed.{{Cite web |title=Manasie Akpaliapik |url=https://www.petroglyphstopixels.com/manasie-akpaliapik/ |access-date=2023-10-08 |website=Petroglyphs to Pixels |language=en-CA}} Akpaliapik left residential school at 16 years old.

Akpaliapik married a woman named Noodloo and returned to Arctic Bay with his family. His wife and their two children were killed in a fire in 1980, after which Akpaliapik moved to Montreal and subsequently to Toronto.

Work

Akpaliapik sculpts with bone, ivory, and stone. His sculptures typically have human or animal forms and are closely connected with traditional beliefs.{{cite web |title=Manasie Akpaliapik |url=http://www.ago.net/manasie-akpaliapik |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220180159/http://www.ago.net/manasie-akpaliapik |archive-date=20 February 2017 |accessdate=20 February 2017 |publisher=Art Gallery of Ontario}} He began to carve professionally after 1980.

On his work, he says:

Everything that I'm doing is trying to capture some of the culture, about my traditions, simple things like hunting, wearing traditional clothing, harpoons, using legends. I feel that the only way we can preserve the culture is if people can see it.

In 1989, he received a Canada Council of the Arts grant to study certain aspects of Inuit culture including drumming and kayak making for his project North Baffin Island Legends. He also delivers workshops about Inuit art.

Akpaliapik was long-listed for the Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award in 2023.{{Cite web |last=IAQ |title=10 Artists Longlisted for 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award |url=https://www.inuitartfoundation.org/lite/iaq-online/10-artists-longlisted-for-2023-kenojuak-ashevak-memorial-award |access-date=2023-10-08 |website=Inuit Art Foundation |language=en}}

Exhibitions and collections

Akpaliapik's works are in included in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec{{cite web|url=https://collections.mnbaq.org/fr/artiste/600010974|title=Manasie Akpaliapik|website=www.collections.mnbaq.org|accessdate=18 January 2020}} and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.{{cite web|url=https://ago.ca/collection/object/96/796|title=Female Drum Dancer - Art Gallery of Ontario|website=Art Gallery of Ontario|access-date=2018-09-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926091449/https://ago.ca/collection/object/96/796|archive-date=2018-09-26|url-status=live}}

In 2017, the Art Gallery of Ontario held a solo exhibition of his work.

In 2021 the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec held Manasie Akpaliapik Inuit Universe with works from the collection of Raymond Brousseau, the first time it devoted an exhibition to a single Inuk artist.{{Cite news|date=2021-06-27|title=Quebec City fine arts museum highlights work of Inuk sculptor in new exhibit|work=CBC|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/manasie-akpaliapik-quebec-museum-1.6082411|access-date=2021-07-10}}

In 2024 Montreal's McCord Stewart Museum reprised and expanded upon the 2021 exhibition, called Manasie Akpaliapik, Inuit Universe.{{Cite news |last=Bérubé |first=Stéphanie |date=2024-10-07 |title=Manasie Akpaliapik. Univers inuit: Mille regards |url=https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/arts-visuels/2024-10-07/manasie-akpaliapik-univers-inuit/mille-regards.php |access-date=2024-12-20 |work=La Presse |language=fr-CA}}