September 26 – December 20
The circumpolar region and relations between Inuit communities from Siberia to Greenland are critical to the work of Taqralik Partridge. umiakkut (by boat) (2026) revisits a journey taken by Taqralik’s grandmother and her siblings, centring the umiaq—a sealskin, whale bone, and driftwood vessel—that carried them across the Hudson Strait from Kimmirut, Nunavut, to Nunavik, Québec. To create this work, Taqralik interviewed relatives who hold familial narratives, developing a sonic composition that layers samples of sounds of water with people speaking, arranged with syncopated, downtempo breakbeats in the style of trip-hop. Using mirrors, projections, sound, and sculpture, this room-sized installation turns the gallery into an immersive, aquatic environment. With umiakkut (by boat), Taqralik revisits the collective building of umiaq in theory and practice, unfolding Indigenous maritime histories to understand what the umiaq form represents for her and other Inuit living, as Taqralik describes, “in a completely different world than even [their] parents knew.”
Commissioned by the Toronto Biennial of Art, co-presented with the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, and made possible with the generous support of RBC, the Women Leading Initiative, and the Canada Council for the Arts
Bio
Bio
Taqralik Partridge
Taqralik Partridge (b. 1975) is an Inuk and Scottish curator, artist and writer originally from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik. She is the former director of the Nordic Lab at SAW Gallery in Ottawa, and has worked as a curator for the Art Gallery Of Ontario, the Art Gallery of Guelph and independently for various galleries.
Taqralik is the former Editor-at-large for the Inuit Art Quarterly. She has performed at festivals in Canada and internationally for more than 20 years; as both a spoken word poet and Inuit throat singer; and her visual and film work has been shown at exhibitions in North America, Australia, Norway, New Zealand and the UK. She currently lives with her family in Ottawa.
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Art Museum at the University of Toronto - Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
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Accessible parkingJustina Barnicke Gallery (7 Hart House Cir.) Accessible Entrance: Use the entrance at 7 Hart House Circle (southeast entrance) or the accessible ramp at Tower Road (2 Tower Road).
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Art Museum at the University of Toronto - Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
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TTC: Near Museum station; Queen’s Park station; St. George Station; 506 Carlton streetcars
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