This text is part of the special section Indigenous Development
In Quebec, First Peoples artists finally seem to enjoy a place of choice in the cultural landscape. The work of Eruoma Awashish, Jason Sikoak and Taqralik Partridge, like others, was honored this year.
Eruoma Awashish, winner of the Contemporary Art Prize from the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec 2025
“Art is a beautiful way to communicate with people, through emotions, through the heart. That’s why I do it,” says Eruoma Awashish in an interview, from an Attikamek father and a Quebec mother.
Having grown up in the Attikamek community of Opitciwan, in Haute-Mauricie, the artist feels a visceral belonging to this culture. Through her creations, she wishes to facilitate the understanding of First Nations cultures.
“I try to communicate the suffering that our people have experienced, but not by making people feel guilty, rather by touching them straight to the heart so that they understand what we have experienced and so that they are no longer in judgment” , she explains, recalling that the history of the First Nations is also that of Quebecers and Canadians. “When people understand, it’s easier to find a place for ourselves in society. »
She is particularly fond of installation, transforming skulls, fur, feathers and other materials from hunting into creation — no waste of animals, as her culture advocates. “We feed on them, we take care of them, we dress ourselves in them: it’s a way of honoring them, of showing them that we are aware that we are taking a life. It is a sacrifice that the animal makes to feed our family. » And for her, the spirit of the animal continues to live through her creations.
The resident of Saint-Prime, in Lac-Saint-Jean, very close to the Innu community of Mashteuiatsh, believes that “indigenous artists actively participate in the awakening, in the resurgence of their peoples”, comparing them to warriors who have always existed within their cultures. “We fight through art. We succeed in defending our beliefs. »
Jason Sikoak, in the running for the 2024 Sobey Arts Award (Circumpolar category)
Naming preferred techniques or disciplines is not a simple task for interdisciplinary non-binary Inuit artist Jason Sikoak, based in Montreal. Everything can, in fact, turn into material – his attention deficit disorder is not necessarily unrelated, the artist confides in an interview.
Nor the fact of having grown up in the very small municipality of Rigolet, in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the artist did not always have paper or pencils. It is therefore not surprising that Jason Sikoak has explored a range of techniques: wood, stone, bone, textile, pen and ink drawing…
At the heart of his creations are the stories of his people, both ancestral and contemporary. Spirituality, colonialism, environment intertwine. The materials, which change over time, serve the stories.
“It’s my way of reconnecting with a past that was lost, of which even my father barely remembers, but also a way of living in today’s world, also made up of diversity. I feel hybrid myself,” says the artist, who designed two coins for the Royal Canadian Mint.
If the Inuit have always told their stories, Jason Sikoak believes that today, people are listening to them. “I feel that art brings them back to life. The beauty of a work can attract someone and start a discussion. »
Struggling with imposter syndrome, the artist is delighted that people love his creations… and that they allow him to nourish himself, his existence having already been very difficult. “Art has always been there for me. He [a sauvé ma] life repeatedly, allowing myself to express horrible emotions about what we suffered. »
Taqralik Partridge, in the running for the 2024 Sobey Arts Award (Circumpolar category)
Taqralik Partridge, born to an Inuit father and a Scottish mother, leads an artistic career marked by diversity. Indeed, in her eyes, “the act of creation does not depend on the medium, but rather on the ability to listen to the medium and do what it wants to become,” explains the Ottawa resident in an interview, who lived for a few years between Norway and Canada.
“That’s the philosophy of ancient Inuit carvings, but it’s true for all kinds of mediums. That’s why I work with so many mediums. I don’t see any differences between them. »
Not only is she a visual artist — last January, she presented her very first solo exhibition — but she is also a writer, oral poet and throat singer. “I always made Inuit clothes, beadwork, drawing…” she remembers.
His work describes the life and experiences of the Inuit in the north and south of Quebec – indigenous people who, although having their distinct cultures, share many experiences with the First Nations. His creations deal, among other things, with homelessness and injustice. “Society is not designed for Aboriginal people, it was made so that they no longer exist. »
When it comes to the place that Indigenous artists occupy today on the Quebec scene, Taqralik Partridge is blunt: “I think there is a lot of work to be done in terms of relations between Indigenous people and not -Indigenous people in Quebec. But it’s good that we want to discuss it more. »
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