5111-37 Inuit Art; Mary Ayaq Anowtalik, "Family", 12"
Mary Ayaq (Akjar) Anowtalik
Inuit
Arviat, Nunavut Territory, Canada
(1938- )
Mary often works in collaboration with her husband Luke Anowtalik, who is also a well-known carver in Arviat. She is also the daughter of artist Elizabeth Nutaraluk and the late Andy Aulatjut.
“Although (Mary) Ayaq Anowtalik started carving while still living on the land in the 1950s, her artistic career began in the mid-1960s. Her strong sense of family and tradition is very much evident in her work; like many Arviat artists, Ayaq Anowtalik concentrates on maternal and family themes. Although her sculptures are conceived as figural compositions, individual subjects are often difficult to distinguish as they emerge, sometimes only as faces, from the compact mass of the stone.”
Ingo Hessel. In “North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary” 1995.